


Angelic Interventions (Why don't you believe me?)

by 2hyunlove



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Angels, Cheesy romance, M/M, alternative universe, like I mean really cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-04 09:21:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12166056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2hyunlove/pseuds/2hyunlove
Summary: A clumsy angel is punished for his many miracle mishaps by falling to earth where he meets a jaded, rich man who doesn't believe in miracles~





	1. When a whistle sounds, an angel falls to the ground.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [2hyuntrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/2hyuntrash/gifts).



Today, the sky is the bluest it has ever been, the sun is shining down on the Earth and birds are singing. It is the perfect day for a miracle.

Or at least that's what the novice angel thought as he looks around to see if anyone is in sight. Everything looks **FINE**. Only the Pearly Gates, St. Peter's most prized possession, stands, shining in all it's pearlescent glory.

Just in case though, he looks right and left and takes a quick peek above him. Nope, no sign of an Omnipotent presence or one angelic feather in sight.

He exhales a sigh of relief. “Everyone else can do it. I don't see why I can't.” He keeps muttering to himself, unconsciously jutting out his chin in defiance as he shoves the flowing sleeves of his robe up to his shoulder and bends his arms in supplication, a look of intense concentration on his face.

What Jonghyun, novice angel Jonghyun, is trying to do is to create something he has been expressly forbidden to do. He is trying to create a miracle.

C-rack!

The blast that results is enough to rock the heavenly firmament. Small stray clouds that are unfortunate enough to be near Jonghyun are obliterated entirely while others skitter through the sky as a wind of hurricane proportions blows past.

Jonghyun is flat on his back, both arms and legs extended out like he is trying to make a snow angel on the cloud floor, a dazed look on his face as the dark smoke is blown away from his features.

He blinks once, twice then blows at the lock of hair that has dislodged itself to hang over his eyes. He moves his limbs very very tentatively.

Fingers and toes wiggle, neck moves from side to side, heartbeat is normal. Jonghyun sighs. Nothing is broken.

He sits up to try and assess the damage to his surroundings. And is promptly distracted by his halo as it slips down into his eyes. He shoves it back into place with an irritated growl and proceeds to stand up, smoothing down his robe to cover bare legs and shimmying a bit to straighten out crumpled feathers.

A couple of snow white feathers fall out and Jonghyun frowns. "I'm molting again.” He sighs. “Why am I the only angel that molts?" He says, looking up in the sky with a defeated expression on his face.

His monologue is interrupted by a muffled grunt emanating from his left side. There is only one person it can be.

"Youngmin? Youngmin, is that you?" Another grunt sounds.

"Where are you?"

Bare feet pops out from a nearby cloud, coloured black by the explosion. "Oh there you are." Jonghyun trudges to the struggling legs. Soon, a mop of curly red hair and clear black eyes surface from the cloud to stare at him in a dazed manner, coughing out bits of fluff.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Jonghyun tells Youngmin, brown eyes refusing to look at him as he stares guiltily somewhere near Youngmin's right ear.

Youngmin looks at him skeptically as he turns around and promptly freezes in horror. "Dear God In Heaven! Something did happen, Jonghyun!" Youngmin says in appalled disbelief as he tugs at Jonghyun's sleeves.

"Look what you did now."

Jonghyun turns around to look and almost dies again.

"You've broken the Pearly Gates!"

Jonghyun covers his face with both hands as he groans in intense denial. He slowly opens his hands again and peeks through the space between his fingers. His stomach drops clear through to the Earth. 

He walks towards his latest catastrophe with Youngmin who slings a sympathetic arm over his shoulder, shaking his head all the way.

When they are near enough to asses the damage, Jonghyun stops, unable to move as he gazes in horrified silence at the Pearly Gates...or what is left of it.

The entrance to the most hallowed place on Earth is, there is no other way to say it, it is in utter shambles.

The gates hang at a crazy angle from its 24-karat hinges. The hinges are broken in half. It squeaks as it sways in slow drunken movements, almost in time with the crescendos of the hymns being sung by other angels in the distance. What has been meant to seem like angel wings with a lock that holds the gates together at its center is...

"The lock? Where's the lock?" Youngmin says, almost in time with Jonghyun's thoughts.

Jonghyun is about to answer when he feels something powdery beneath his feet. Diamond dust winks at him from the pristine white cloud floor, looking like a mound of fine white sand amidst pieces of luminescent pearl. Jonghyun bites his lip in agitation as he points at the mound. "I think it's there." His stomach dropping further into the pits of hell as feelings sink. "Somewhere."

Youngmin kneels down and scoops the dust up, the powdery substance forming a small pyramid in his hands.

"That's all that's left?" Jonghyun squeaks out. "It looks like Lot's wife after Sodom and Gomorrah."

" St. Peter is going to blow like Mount Vesuvius once he finds out. And can you imagine *His* reaction? Your punishment might be even worse than the last time when you had to polish every silver lining in all the clouds."

Conflicting emotions run through Jonghyun's expressive brown eyes before resolve sets in. "I'll go tell him what I did.” Jonghyun says miserably. 

Youngmin spins him around before he could take another step. “Are you kidding me? He's going to be so angry until kingdom come. Let him cool off first once he finds out. Your punishment might be a little less if he's not as angry. Come on~” Youngmin drags Jonghyun away. 

Jonghyun is so horrified that he let his best friend drag him in silence as they glide from one cloud bank to another. When Youngmin appraoaches a particular cloud, Jonghyun tugs weakly at Youngmin, murmuring.

“Go there.” He points to a chubby cumulus cloud and his best friend complies. It would fit both him and Youngmin. He motions Youngmin inside as he goes in, squeezing into the insides of the cloud amidst the icicles and the silver lining.

Youngmin eases in after him, tucking his knees under his chin as he looks at Jonghyun with uncertain eyes. "Do you think St. Peter'll find us here?"

"Nope. This is the perfect hideout. I found it when I was polishing the silver linings. No one knows this one has a lining at all."

"Sure?" Youngmin asks again, skeptically.

"Yes, I'm sure. I hid here the last time and no one found me. " Jonghyun told Youngmin, his face still crumpled in misery at the gravity of what he's just done.

"Oh," Youngmin says. "Was that the time you were trying to fly and you ran headfirst into Jacob's ladder?"

Jonghyun's face scrunches up even more at Youngmin's words as he hangs his head in embarrassment. "If only all the archangels weren't on it all at the same time." He sighed.

"Daniel still has that tweak in his halo. And sometimes, usually when he's singing a particularly difficult hymn, it falls into his face." Youngmin says, laughter dancing in his eyes.

"I know! I haven't been able to look at him in the eye after that." Jonghyun shakes his head mournfully. Then after a moment of quiet silence he looks at Youngmin steadily. "But that isn't the time I was talking about."

Youngmin stares at Jonghyun with suspicion. "Don't tell me you did something yet again? Please tell me you didn't."

"Promise not to tell?"

Youngmin hesitates and then sighs as he nods.

"Cross your heart and hope to die?"

"I'm already dead, Jonghyun." Youngmin gently reminds him.

"So am I," Jonghyun replies, "but if they ever find out about those ancient scrolls..."

"Scrolls? The sacred scrolls? You lost the ancient scrolls?" A horrified look enters Youngmin's face making Youngmin's face look almost scary. Not that it scares Jonghyun, he's seen it enough times to even twitch a feather from it. That horrified look always comes into play whenever Jonghyun tells Youngmin about his latest mishaps.

"I didn't really lose them." Jonghyun hedges. "At least not exactly."

Youngmin looks at him suspiciously. "What exactly do you mean by 'not exactly'?"

"I dropped them." Jonghyun blushes.

"Where?"

"Deep into the Dead Sea." Jonghyun says, causing Youngmin's mouth to drop open. "But someone is bound to find them." He rushes in before Youngmin's expression changes to a more horrific one.

"They were underfoot all the time! I just wanted to move them. Then I tripped. I wanted to do something good, honest. I really didn't mean to." A plaintive note is in his voice.

Youngmin shakes his head. He can't say anything. He knows his friend has the very best intentions at heart. It isn't Jonghyun's fault that everything seemed to turn out badly because of his inherent clumsiness.

Something tickles Youngmin's nose and he sneezes.

"You cold?" Jonghyun asks in concern.

"No," Youngmin says, clutching at the cause of his sneeze and holding it up for Jonghyun to see. "It was one of these." A snow white feather is in his palm. One of Jonghyun's wing feathers.

Jonghyun's face falls.

Youngmin strokes Jonghyun's wing feathers, trying to reassure the crestfallen angel. "Cheer up, Jonghyun. It isn't your fault that you're the only angel with a molting season. I think that's what's keeping you from flying. That doesn't make you a bad angel."

Jonghyun sighs in exasperation. "But that doesn't excuse the fact that I'm awful in everything else! I can't sing one single heavenly note, or play an instrument. And you know what happens when I try to perform a miracle."

They lapse into silence. After all, everything Jonghyun says is true. Youngmin can't tell lies just to comfort his friend.

From a distance, the lovely musical sound of harp music floats into the cloud. It grew louder and louder, which meant that a cadre of angels is heading their way.

They both duck and try not to breathe.

"Glo-ooo-oooo-oooooohhhooooo-ooo-ria! In ex-cel-sis-dey-oh!" comes the sound of pure golden voices raised in praise.

"Don't say a word." Youngmin whispers. "It's one of the archangel choruses."

A loud plunk resounds from outside, followed by a thunk. The voices stop singing just right below Jonghyun's and Youngmin's cloud. They both stop breathing.

A classically handsome archangel with slightly wavy hair by the name of Seungwoo flinches and looks over his shoulder. "Is that your harp strings breaking, Jinyoung?"

Another angel with the smallest face in the universe, frowns down on his harp. "Two of them just broke."

As everyone looks at the harp, 3 more strings snapped in succession. Thwack! Clunk! Ping! Jonghyun winces at each sound.

Seungwoo blinks and then looks around. "If I don't know better, I'd say Jonghyun is around here somewhere."

Jonghyun's heart almost threatens to burst out of his chest. He puts both of his hands over his eyes.

A second later there is a thundering crack of lightning, followed by another and yet another, lighting up the surroundings with electric blue flashes that lifts the hair from everyone's neck.

Everyone freezes.

"My gates!" It is Saint Peter and he is livid, bellowing all over Heaven. "My GATES!"

Jonghyun assumes that the saintly old man found what remains of the Pearly Gates. Jonghyun blanches as silence reigns for what seems like eternity. Then...

"Jonghyun!"

Jonghyun's heart drops.

" **JONGHYUN!** Front and Center!"

"Dear Lord." Youngmin whispers.

Even before Youngmin finishes speaking, light flashes throughout heaven, brighter than a star going nova. It dissipates their chubby cumulus cloud and Jonghyun and Youngmin falls to the ground. When both of them look up, it is to the censorious eyes of St. Peter.

Face to face with the indomitable presence of the Guardian of the Gates, Jonghyun falls to his nervous habit – biting his tongue. He raises his left arm and waves at St. Peter weakly. "Er, Hello there, Sir!"

The Saint, who is almost always amiable, is unusually silent. Before Jonghyun can even say a word, St. Peter holds up his hand to stop him. Inwardly, Jonghyun winces as St. Peter turned all-knowing eyes on him. "Jonghyun, someone has destroyed the gates to Heaven."

“I'm sorry.”

Jonghyun looks up with velvet eyes full of remorse but St. Peter is adamant. He crosses his arms. "You know that you have been expressly forbidden to make any more miracles." A knowing look enters his gentle eyes. "I assume that is what you were trying to do?"

Jonghyun nods.

St. Peter starts to pace in front of Jonghyun, adapting a manner he normally adapts when he is lecturing. "Angels are suppose to guard, protect and guide the human race." He stops, just in front of Jonghyun. "Not wipe it out of existence."

Jonghyun looks at his toes, his expressive eyes glistening with unshed tears, unable to meet St. Peter's eyes as he whispers, "I didn't try to. Not after that fire in Mount Vesuvius exploded." He looks up, eyes pleading. "I would never do that again. I just wanted to help."

St. Peter stares at him for the longest while, making Jonghyun more miserable with each passing minute. He almost can't bear it. Jonghyun needs St. Peter to believe him. He has to believe that Jonghyun meant no harm to come to anyone, he only wants to help.

After an infinity of waiting, St. Peter finally takes a deep breath and spoke. "I'm sorry, Jonghyun, but this time, I'm afraid I can do nothing for you."

Jonghyun's eyes shoot open to their largest size ever. "Nothing?"

"Nothing." There is a note of finality in St. Peter's voice.

"No!" Youngmin protests. "Surely."

"Nothing." St. Peter reiterates.

All the archangels in the vicinity start muttering and whispering, making a noise that sounds like a swarm of bees buzzing away. In their midst, Jonghyun stands in stunned silence, unable to move or speak as the meaning of St. Peter's words sink in.

"Please, St. Peter," Youngmin is tugging on the angel's sleeve, " He didn't mean to do it. Surely you can forgive him, just this once."

St. Peter shakes his head as he gently disentangles his robe from Youngmin's clutching fingers. "I am really sorry, Youngmin, but there is nothing I can do."

Heaven's bright lights dim and with it, Jonghyun's naïve sense of invincibility. He knows he has reached the end of the line this time. A cold empty feeling begins to permeate him as hope dwindles away. There is no hope for him anymore.

Stinging tears find their way to Jonghyun's eyes then, shaming but unstoppable. He barely hears St. Peter's next words as a dull buzzing sounds in his ears. But the meaning is clear.

"From this day forward, Jonghyun is no longer welcome in heaven."

Clank!

Everything around Jonghyun dims. Then his halo disappears.

A shrill whistle sounds and his wings vanish.

Jonghyun feels like running away but St. Peter's firm look holds him in place.

"You will return to Earth."

In the background he can hear Youngmin still protesting but he can't turn around to reassure his friend as St. Peter's hand descends on his head. "To a time and place where angels fall."

"No, please."

They were the last words Jonghyun utters before everything turns black and he loses consciousness.


	2. Hello, Earth~ (Heaven, Did you send me to Hell Instead?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwang Minhyun, filthy rich financier, youngest ever millionaire in Korea, hits a strange man with his car and takes him home. What is going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had most of Chapter 2 done when I posted Chapter 1. For once inspiration wasn't as slow, maybe I should write cheesy romance novels instead? >.<
> 
> I would like to apologize in advance if I totally took Jonghyun's introverted personality out in this fic. I am assuming that an angel Jonghyun would have been so coddled by his friends that his more mischievous side comes into play than the introverted side :) We'll see what happens!
> 
> Chapter 3 will be slower because I'll have to think about it. :D
> 
> P.S. This chapter switches perspectives from Minhyun to Jonghyun to Minhyun. I am sorry if it's confusing.

All he hears is a startled shout before a dull thud shudders throughout the car.

"He just appeared in front of the car, Sir, I swear. I didn't even see him coming." The chauffeur tells his boss as he looks down at the poor man the car hit.

His employer doesn't even answer him as he stares at the crumpled form. Long legs kneel down and elegant fingers feel for a pulse. He finds one, an erratic but steady beat.

"Mr. Hwang, you've got to believe me! I never even saw him."

"Mr. Kwon! Cease your babbling and control yourself!" A sharpness in the tone warns the chauffeur to get a hold of himself. "He isn't dead." As the driver watches, his employer gathers the victim in his arms effortlessly and stands up.

"The house is nearby. I will carry him. Mr. Kwon, go to the doctor. Tell him it's an emergency and bring him to the house."

All throughout the quiet, calm commands, the driver just stares in stunned silence at his employer. It's strange to see his boss show this much consideration to anyone, least of all a stranger. It takes a sharp "Mr. Kwon!" to snap him out of it.

"Yes, sir!"

With that, Hwang Minhyun doesn't spare his chauffeur another glance as he strides briskly to the sidewalk, the glow of streetlights illuminating the dark winter night easily enough that he does not have to watch the ground too closely for anything that might trip him. He hears the car revving up and pulling away from the curb in a powerful burst of gasoline but it is a distant sound, detached, like everything else around him, as he stares down at the male in his arms.

Holding someone is a foreign feeling for him, he's never felt the need to do so in the past 27 years of his existence. Minhyun scans the unconscious man's face clinically, noting the features and the bruises. By his estimate, Minhyun would say the man is around his age.

/How can someone just materialise in front of a car like that?/ He wonders to himself. Minhyun had been staring in front the whole time when the strange man got hit by the car so he knows his chauffeur was not lying when he said the man appeared mysteriously.

Minhyun needs answers. Not to mention a possible release form in case the man sues him. Minhyun wouldn't put it past anyone not to use this opportunity. He sighs.

He looks again at the features of the person in his arms, hoping for some answers to the strange occurences but finds none. The man has a tanned face that's ghostly pale right now because of the accident. The paleness contrasts with the rich raven hair that splays over the man's closed eyes. His fingers itch to touch it to see if it is as silky as it looks. But he doesn't. He doesn't want a sexual harassment suit on top of the car issue after all.

A trickle of blood runs from the man's lips and there are scratches on one side of his face. Gashes peek out from the torn jeans, ruined cardigan and pink shirt where his skin came into contact with the car and rough concrete pavement.

The man's breathing is labored. Tight and short, indicating that the man is in pain. But he makes no sound, no moans, no screams of protest, no nothing. This startles him. Usually people scream to high heaven with so much as a scratch.

A faint scent of sunshine clings to the man's skin, a clean scent that reminds Minhyun of simple uncomplicated things. Things that have been excised from his life a long time ago, things he has foregone for the complications and cutthroat politics of business.

He finds himself missing those things but he brushes them aside with ruthless ease. It's just an unproductive use of his time.

A moment later he is in front of the sprawling marble monstrosity that he calls his home, or a near approximation of a home. It is where he stays to sleep, to eat, to hold parties for his business associates. It meets his needs.

He runs up the stairs that lead to the front door and kicks at the door, his hands being full of an unconscious man to push the doorbell ringer.

Nothing happens. Minhyun curses, quietly but quite colorfully, before he awkwardly pushes the ringer with his nose.

A deep, booming muffled sound echoes inside and the massive doors click open a moment later.

His butler, Mr. Kim, opens the door and doesn't even so much as blink as he sees his master with an unconscious person in his arms. "Sir, Master Kang, Choi and Kwak are waiting in your sanctum. Would you like me to take this person and put him in one of the guest rooms?”

Minhyun nods in approval as he gingerly hands off his unexpected burden. “Excellent. Perhaps they'll know what I should do with this little dilemma. Bring our...guest to the library.”

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Jonghyun's headache is killing him. It's almost akin to the time his head ached when he had flown head first into Jacob's ladder and all the archangels had fallen on top of him. It felt like being tackled by football players. What isn't the same is the fact that the side of his face feels like it is on fire.

Someone touches his shoulder and Jonghyun can't help the hiss of pain that comes out from his lips as agony shoots up his neck.

After the pain subsides and only the throbbing remains, Jonghyun finally feels the presence of others in the room- standing over him, lounging around him - but he doesn't really feel like opening his eyes and finding out. He doesn't really feel like doing anything at all to be honest.

"He's coming around." Jonghyun hears a gentle voice say beside him.

"Find out who he is." This second voice is different. No gentleness in this tone, it's like steel or stone, unmoving, granite hard and voice of one used to command.

“God?” Jonghyun says to himself, almost matter-of-factly. “I know that voice, it's God.”

Someone laughs very heartily from Jonghyun's left, peals and peals of laughter that dissolve into muffled giggling. “You...he...AHAHAHAHA. He thinks Minhyun is God.”

“Oh, pipe down, Dong Ho.” A slightly petulant voice admonishes Mr. FunnyLaugh.

Jonghyun cracks open his eyelid to peer out into the room in curiosity, his eyes watering at the sudden light.  
“Hey there.” Mr. Gentlevoice is crouching over him and giving him a very neutral wave. “How are you doing?”

Jonghyun licks his lips that seem too dry and swollen, trying to form coherent words. Finally succeeding. "My face burns."

“You tore some skin when you got hit by the car. It doesn't look too bad.” Mr. Gentlevoice says soothingly, extending a hand out to Jonghyun. “Hello, by the way, my name is Aron. And this is Dr. Park who is going to examine you for any serious injuries.” Mr. Gentle---Aron, moves away from Jonghyun and a kindly old doctor takes his place at the chair next to Jonghyun.

The doctor smiles at him encouragingly and pokes and prods Jonghyun. Good thing Jonghyun actually listened to the class HumanSociety210 or else he'd think this doctor is violating his privacy.

"And we're done. That wasn't so bad, hmmn? Just a few scratches on you. You're a very lucky man to figure in an accident like that and get away with such light injuries you know." A gentle hand patted Jonghyun's hand comfortingly. "Now, my boy, can you tell us who you are?"

"Jonghyun."

"That's good Jonghyun." The kindly old doctor shifts away from him and turns to someone just out of Jonghyun's range of sight. "It appears that he has no serious cranial injuries. His memory is certainly intact."

"Jonghyun who?" comes the voice he thought is God.

"Just Jonghyun."

"Where are you from?" The next question is fired out almost in the heels of Jonghyun's answer. Jonghyun didn't even have time to think, only to say the first thing that he can think of, which is the truth.

"Heaven."

Silence meets his answer but only for a moment before the room bursts into a cacophony of reactions.

Mr. FunnyLaugh starts laughing again, his eyes reduced to quartermoons of mirth.

“Jonghyun, are you sure you're ok?” This from Aron who looks like he thinks Jonghyun might still be suffering a concussion.

“Is he pulling our leg or something? Because I, for one, can't believe he just said that with a straight face. Dr. Park, are you sure the poor dear isn't concussed?” This from Mr. PetulantVoice who is sitting next to Mr. FunnyLaugh, looking at Jonghyun with amusement and worry warring in his eyes.

"Everyone will shut up this instance." Mr. Godvoice says in a voice that holds just a hint of threat. It is said in a quiet and controlled voice but it has the desired effect. Silence reigns.

In the silence, Jonghyun remembers everything that's happened in the last few hours and he curls up on himself, burying his face into his arms as he rocks himself to and fro, unmindful of these strange people. He's not going to cry, not in front of strangers like these.

"I fell." He mumbles to himself.

"No, child." The kindly doctor rushes to his side and pats him on the back. "You didn't fall. You were hit by a car."

"No, no you don't understand. I've fallen." Jonghyun feels the tears threatening and he is horrified at the thought of showing such weakness in front of others, of letting them know of his shame. He tries to hold it in but it's like a dam waiting to burst inside of him. "I didn't really mean any harm. I didn't."

"It wasn't your fault, Jonghyun. It was an accident."

Jonghyun doesn't seem to hear the doctor as he looks at a point near his ear with a faraway look in his eyes. "I just wanted to be like everyone else. They all did it so easily. So very easily and I..." The tears he tries to hold back start to fall, much to Jonghyun's mortification. "No more angels," his voice caught, "no more wings, no more fluffy white clouds with silver linings, no more haloes. Such a beautiful halo. All gone.”

His voice is little more than a whisper by now. "All gone. Everything's gone." He begins to hiccup and sob as he thought of all that he has lost.

"He's hysterical."

"I've fallen. Everything's gone. No more Youngmin, no more Hyunbin, no more harp strings."

"You will stop crying, Jonghyun." Mr. Godvoice says, standing over Jonghyun's form. Jonghyun can feel the man's presence, so potent and strong that the air seems to warp and crackle around him, filling it with tension. "You will stop crying. Now."

Jonghyun tries to stifle his hiccuped sobs but fails. He can't help himself.

"Stop it."

He tries to stop. He really did, but it just wouldn't.

"Stop!"

"Hwang Minhyun! Shouting at him is not going to help the situation any. I suggest we get him to bed, give him a chance to calm down. What he needs right now is sleep. It'll be the best prescription I can give."

A pair of strong arms slide beneath Jonghyun then and he turns reddened eyes to the one who does it. He sees a tall, forbidding image over him, a blurred image through eyes filled with tears.

A second later he lifts Jonghyun into his arms and turns, triggering a sharp stab through Jonghyun's neck. Jonghyun moans. And Mr. Godvoice, Hwang Minhyun, stills immediately.

Jonghyun blinks and his vision clears, allowing him his first clear view of the man who is carrying him. He looks into a face filled with could-have-beens. A face that is classically handsome, with high cheekbones and an almost regal bearing, but set in such harsh lines that it almost frightens Jonghyun.

Jonghyun revises his earlier opinion. He is no god. In fact, he looks like the devil himself. With hair as black as midnight, well-kept and lustrous, shining in the electric lights of the room and hard piercing eyes that gives no quarter framed in sleek glasses, a determined look of power stamped into every sharp angle of his face. He looks nothing like God.

It's a very harsh beauty, glittering in its' brittleness. He stares down at Jonghyun with sharp intensity, the depths of his eyes fathomless. Jonghyun isn't sure but he thinks he sees, just for a second, a brief flicker of a vulnerable soul that is lost.

Even as Jonghyun stares at Hwang Minhyun, so did Minhyun. And as if he too has gauged Jonghyun's measure in that one glance, he turns with Jonghyun in his arms and strides from the room, Jonghyun's weight seemingly nothing more than a light feather.

Hwang Minhyun carries Jonghyun up what seems like a never-ending flight of staircase, the doctor and the three others in tow. In that time he only looks down on Jonghyun once, a hard stare that feels like a wall, a wall that he put up between him and the world. Jonghyun cocks his head slightly, looking back with a speculative look in his eyes but Hwang Minhyun fixes his gaze ahead.

After a few minutes of walking down a sumptuous hallway, they finally arrive at a room. The door opens, quickly, efficiently just a few feet before they reach it. Jonghyun only has time to catch a glimpse of a blond maidservant before he is laid down on an elegant bed.

Just like every movement did, this one shoots pain into his body and he instinctively grips Hwang Minhyun's hand.

"Did I hurt you?" Hwang Minhyun asks in a voice that seems cold and largely unconcerned.

"No."

Hwang Minhyun's eyebrows rose up as if to say that Jonghyun is lying but he is distracted by the warmth in his hands and Jonghyun's. It's been a long time since he has held another person's hand or been held by one. It's unsettling. He stares at the joined hands oddly.

Jonghyun watches Hwang Minhyun's eyes flicker with something undefinable.

"But I think you will." Jonghyun says, in a quiet voice. 

Hwang Minhyun gives Jonghyun one last unreadable stare before, without a word, he spins around, crooks his finger at the other three, and leaves the room without a backward glance.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Minhyun leans a shoulder against the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his chest and just watches Jonghyun sleep. He doesn't know why but he feels a compulsion to do so, eyeing the brunette on the bed who sleeps on his stomach, sprawled over the bed.

Sleep escapes Minhyun. Of late, he sleeps little, his mind unable to rest, always prodding and pushing him to work. Work. It's all there is. He suspects that if he is to stop working, he would not know what to do and that might just be the underlying reason why he keeps himself busy with it.

It's not the money, his ventures certainly brought in enough. He works for power. Power to do anything he wants when he wants without anyone gainsaying him. Wealth brought him that. He has enough of it to be omnipotent if he wanted.

He should probably go back to reviewing the project Dong Ho gave him earlier. A silent snort of disgust issues from Minhyun at the absurdness of what he is doing but he doesn't stop. Instead, he pushes away from the door and lithely crosses the room to stand beside the bed.

Silvery moonbeams dances in the darkness of the room through the wide windows left with the curtains undrawn and shines down on the short, rich black-brown strands spilled in mild disarray around the sleeping face. Minhyun wonderes how long it's been since he's noticed moonlight and if he has ever paid attention to a man's, or for that matter, a woman's hair, before.

He reaches out and touches a strand, running a finger along it slowly. He doesn't know what he expects to feel but he isn't disappointed. The strand feels soft and silky between his fingers.

He wants to bury his hands in the mass of it.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Minhyun hides his surprise, an instinctive move born of years of lessons, natural and automatic. Just as sublimating emotions has become instinctive for him. It isn't often that anyone can surprise him anymore. 

He looks directly down into velvet brown eyes, eyes that hold honest curiosity and is even now staring back at him.

"You're supposed to be asleep."

A grin quickly surfaces on the other's face as he gingerly flips himself over and sits up, fluffing up the blankets as he replies. "I've never done what I'm supposed to."

Minhyun leans over on the nightstand and picks up a glass filled with milky liquid, switching on the electric lamp near it. "You didn't drink the medicine either." He says witheringly.

Jonghyun shakes his head.

"I see." Minhyun sets down the glass. "A rebel."

Jonghyun cocks his head to one side. "More of a disaster I think. That's why I'm in this fix. I fell."

Minhyun searches Jonghyun's face, trying to decide what Jonghyun means by “fallen' or “fell from heaven.” He shrugs. 

"Doing what's expected is so..." Jonghyun waves his hand around, trying to find the right word and finding none he grunts and rolls his eyes.

Minhyun supplies the word for him. "Boring?"

"Yes!" Jonghyun says, smiling at Minhyun. "That's it exactly! For example, it would be extremely boring if I drank my medicine and slept. Then we would not be having this conversation at all."

"You would never have known I was here."

"True. But you would have known."

Minhyun is unable to comprehend what value Jonghyun places on the fact that he would have known. He doesn't know what to answer so he watches him instead - this man who would be bored by convention, a trait common in this society, certainly, but doesn't seem to fit Jonghyun's current profile of innocent naiveness. Children these days lost their innocence early in life.

Bored. Minhyun was bored when he came into this room. Not that he cares to admit it.

"So, Mr. Hwang, we haven't been properly introduced." Jonghyun reaches out and grabs a pillow, placing it behind his back and snuggling back into it as if he expects to be comfortable for a long chat.

“You heard the others say my name a couple of times earlier.” Minhyun shrugs. But Jonghyun makes an encouraging gesture with his hands and Minhyun mutters under his breath about idiots before he answers, “My name is Hwang Minhyun, how do you do?”

"Hello Minhyun~ Minhyun...ie?"

Minhyun scowls. "I prefer you address me as Hwang"

Jonghyun largely ignores that remark. " It's so short and terribly businesslike. We can settle for Minhyun." Jonghyun says it more to himself than to Minhyun.

"I suppose 'Hyunbin' or 'Youngmin' would have been more to your liking then." Minhyun says, dropping the names that Jonghyun spoke of before in the library.

"No." Jonghyun says quickly, quietly, sincerity in his eyes. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about your name. 'Minhyun' is a perfectly wonderful name. In fact," Jonghyun brightens, "I seem to recall a nice cat with that name who used to greet me every day."

A gargled sound of swallowed disgust issues from Minhyun, quickly smothered. A very unpleasant thought so instead he focuses on something else, like how Jonghyun seems to care about hurting his feelings.

How strange, to worry about hurting someone over something as silly as a name. He makes no comment but Jonghyun doesn't seem to notice.

No more than an instant later, Jonghyun lifts the covers in one hand and peers under them.

"What am I wearing?"

Minhyun swears he can see Jonghyun wriggle his toes beneath the covers. "A shirt." He says.

"Yours?"  
"Yes."  
"Silk?"  
"Yes."

Jonghyun drops the covers and snuggles down on the slightly-too-big shirt, then he looks up with a small smile. "Nice."

"I need to contact your family."  
"That would be impossible."  
"Nothing is impossible." Minhyun says firmly.  
"Contacting my family would involve nothing short of a miracle."

Minhyun crossed his arms and simply stares at Jonghyun, boring holes into his soul with the hard gaze. "Not for me."

The gaze doesn't seem to work on Jonghyun. "I see you haven't a problem with confidence." Jonghyun comments lightly.

"No, I haven't."

Jonghyun gives a huge sigh and crosses his arms instead, looking down on the sheet. "I don't have much confidence."

"Its been my experience that having enough money and power can make one confident about any number of things."

Jonghyun looks up. "What an interesting philosophy. So you think one has to be rich to be confident?"

"It helps. Money can buy anything."

Jonghyun shakes his head. "I don't think so."

Minhyun's eyebrow rises up. "Name something money can't buy."

"People."

A cruel smile makes its way to Minhyun's face. ""I buy people everyday."

"Do you really?" He frowns, then mumbles. "Which country are we in? I thought that slavery is illegal in this century."

Minhyun isn't certain if Jonghyun just cut him off purposefully but before he can comment, Jonghyun continues on. “Okay, then. How about love? Money can't buy love."

"For a small part of my money, and sometimes even just to be seen with me, hundreds, no thousands of women and even men, would be happy enough to throw themselves at me at my slightest interest."

With that comment, he sees Jonghyun just look at him for the longest time, the sparkle in Jonghyun's eyes banked as he stares pensively. It makes Minhyun uneasy. 

"Memories." Jonghyun says quietly, so quietly that Minhyun isn't certain he hears him right. " You can't buy memories. You have to make them."

"It takes money to do things that make memories."

"No, it doesn't." Jonghyun said with complete certainty, jarring the bespectacled Minhyun.

"Nothing in this world comes for free."

"I assume from this conversation that money means a lot to you."

"It is a means to an end." Minhyun shrugs.

"I see. So what do you do with all this money? Help the poor and sick?"

"No."

Now it's Jonghyun's eyebrows that rise up. "Have you ever heard the expression 'You can't take it with you'?"

"Of course."

"Where I come from, wealth doesn't matter."

"Then it's probably a place I'd rather not visit."

Jonghyun looks like he is tempted to stick a tongue out at him before he looks away and murmurs, "I don't think that will be a problem."

Silence settles, making it awkward between them. Jonghyun starts plucking at the edges of the blanket.

"Tell me where to find your family."

"I can't." Jonghyun stills. "You can't find a family that doesn't exist. I have no family."

Something inside Minhyun tenses. Something in Jonghyun's manner and the way he can't look Minhyun in the eye says that Jonghyun is either lying or ashamed. He changes tact.

"Where do you live?"

Jonghyun is quiet, too quiet. He is going to lie to Minhyun. And that angers Minhyun more than he cares to admit. Somehow he doesn't want Jonghyun to be like every other person he's known. He wants Jonghyun to be different eventhough he doesn't know why.

"Are you going to answer me?"

"I...I don't know."

He leans over Jonghyun, placing one hand on either side of his hips and brings his face close to the other man's face, close enough that Minhyun's glasses almost touches the hair that is sticking out every which way from Jonghyun's head. His gaze is unwavering, piercing.

It's intimidation at its' best. "I insist." He says quietly.

"No, you don't understand." Jonghyun returns his look with one so innocent that Minhyun, jaded, hardened Minhyun, almost falls for it. " I *am* answering you. I don't know where I live."

Minhyun straightens. "That's very convenient."

Jonghyun stiffens as if Minhyun has slapped him. "You don't believe me." It is more of a statement than a question.

"No, I don't."  
"I'm sorry."  
"I don't want apologies. Just answers."  
"I wasn't apologizing. I'm sorry for you."

"Don't be." Minhyun turns, walking towards the door and opening it. It is the only time he looks back at Jonghyun. "I have everything I could ever want. I don't need anything."

"Except more money." Jonghyun mutters.

In the doorway, Minhyun freezes, pinning Jonghyun with a glare, scowling as he does so. "Tomorrow, Jonghyun, you will tell me the truth." And almost as an afterthought, he adds. "And drink the damn medicine."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Jonghyun doesn't drink the medicine.

A short time later, he tiptoes down the dark staircase, his sneakers in one hand, the other hand using the thick smoothly polished bannister to steady himself. He is still a little woozy from the accident. But not woozy enough or insane enough to stay in this house for even another few hours.

He reaches the bottom after what seems like forever and slowly makes his way across the dark marble foyer until he feels the heavy wooden front doors under his questing hands. Leaning against them, he pulls on his sneakers and as quickly and quietly as possible, Jonghyun opens the door.

It's a good thing that Hwang 'Money' Minhyun has a staff that works like clockwork, because the heavy door swings quietly on its' well-oiled hinges.

He steps outside and just stands there for a second. It is freezing out. Colder than the stormiest and highest cloud in Heaven. He shivers and stares helplessly at the unfamiliar streets for a moment before he pulls his thin cardigan tighter around him and wounds his muffler on a neck that has goosebumps on it. He takes a deep breath and watches it turn to a frosty mist in the cold night air. Jonghyun is willing to bet that his cheeks are starting to turn red. He closes his eyes and says a quick prayer before running down the front steps. In less than the time it takes for an angel to flap their wings, Jonghyun disappears into the winter darkness of Seoul.


	3. We're Strangers Starting Out On A Journey (I hope you have insurance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the start of a confusing, amazing ride~ if Minhyun can survive it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will get cringy-er and cringy-er as stereotypical romance paperbacks usually do :D We might actually have some sort of smut in Chapter 6, or so. No promises. 
> 
> I keep forgetting to add in my caveat. English is my second language so grammatical mistakes happen. I also mix up my tenses without meaning to :( I'm sorry oTL

It starts out as a perfectly normal day this early winter's morning. Minhyun goes into the dining hall to find Minki drinking his blueberry smoothie and scrolling through the news on his mobile phone. Dong Ho is, as usual, enthusiastically selecting his breakfast from the side table piled high with a varied selection of breakfast viands while Aron is already reading through a huge pile of documents while eating a spartan breakfast of toast. 

Minhyun sweeps a searching gaze over the hall, looking for one particular person. He eases himself into his seat, taking the glass of grapefruit juice and the newspaper, taking his time scanning the newspaper headlines for a couple of minutes before he speaks. 

“Mr. Kim.”

“Yes, Master Hwang.” Mr. Kim steps to his left with a short bow.

“Please notify our guest that his presence is required for breakfast.” Minhyun says dryly, sipping his drink.

“Yes, Master Hwang.”

A maid scurries out at Mr. Kim's small nod, only to come back again a few minutes later, white-faced and clutching a silk shirt. She hesitantly approaches the butler and whispers in his ear. Minhyun notices how Mr. Kim presses his lips together in disapproval before the dignified butler approaches Minhyun.

“Master Hwang, Sunmi says that our guest has disappeared.” There is a small amount of distress in the butler's voice. “My apologies for not noticing this earlier.”

This news is greeted by groans and various reactions from the others but all Minhyun does is close his eyes, radiating annoyance in every line of his body. 

“Bloody hell.” Minhyun growls. 

“Do you want me to organise a search party?” Dong Ho says over a mouthful of buttered scones.

"No. That will be time and energy best left for Nu'Est Enterprises. He is not our main concern." Minhyun says, shaking his head in a sign of negation as he turns towards the butler. 

"Mr. Kim." came the imperious command but as the butler starts forward, Minhyun's gaze is drawn to the maid holding the silk shirt Minhyun lent Jonghyun last night. The maid and butler are agitated, expecting a dressing down from Minhyun. But Minhyun does not oblige. Minhyun might be a very strict employer but he isn't a complete tyrant.

 _/I should have poured that medicine down his throat./_ He looks at the shirt. _/Or hid his clothes./_ Minhyun pins Mr. Kim with a look. "Find out if anyone saw or heard him leave. Check the entire block and the security cameras. Let me know immediately when anyone finds anything."

Mr. Kim and Sunmi are a little dazed to be let off without even a reprimand but are brought out of their reverie by Minhyun's sharp command. "What are you standing around for? Get going!"

As both Mr. Kim and the maid turn to leave, the maid freezes on the spot at Minhyun's quiet "And Sunmi," she turns back, and with a quivering voice, asks, "Sir?"

"I'll take that." Minhyun nods at the shirt.

Shocked silence.

Everyone stares at Minhyun oddly then looks back at the shirt, only to stare at Minhyun yet again. One thought is paramount in all their minds. What is going on?

Minhyun doesn't care one way or another what everyone is thinking about. He stares at the shirt. The persistent smell of sunshine lingers in it. Jonghyun's scent.

"You need to find him, Minhyun. Its not a priority but you will have to find him." Aron tells him after a brief pause.

Minhyun tosses the shirt into a nearby chair and walks with no-nonsense steps to the long windows overlooking the street. He stands there with his hands crossed in front of him, watching the snow fall lightly on the street corner below. "I know."

"About the release?" Aron asks with a tone of relief. "That's good. I'm glad I don't have to explain."

Minhyun turns towards the older man with his head buried in documents. "I'm not entirely ignorant of legal practices, Aron hyung."

"You need to have him sign this document of release." Aron nods to Minhyun, separating a sheaf of paper from the pile near his plate. "I was going to give it to you after the morning agenda but here it is." With one quick precise movement that spoke of a lifetime experience at throwing things at people, Aron throws the stapled papers at Minhyun who deftly catches it. "It releases you from every liability for the car accident."

In addition to being a very useful member of Nu'Est Enterprises, Aron is also Minhyun's lawyer. The older man is a genius on the law and on circumventing legal liabilities. He is the best. He had to be. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in Minhyun's employ.

"I *am* liable." He tells Aron.

"Yah." Aron interrupts him. "*Never* tell me that. You pay me a bloody fortune to make certain that no matter what, you are not liable for anything."

"Odd. I thought he pays you a fortune for being his secretary. I mean look at all these documents!" Minki tsks while he messes up the mountain of paper nearest him.

"Yah, Minki. I ordered them already according to importance, don't mess them up."

Minki ignores Aron's whine, preferring to turn his attention to Minhyun. "Odd." Minki hears Minhyun say quietly, almost to himself. "I didn't think he was one to run away."

A well-groomed elegant brow lifts in surprise. Minki has never seen Minhyun this involved with anything before.

"What did you say, Minhyun?" Dong Ho interrupts before Minki can ask Minhyun anything.

"Nothing." Comes the clipped reply. "Just an observation."

Outside, the snow drifts down on the streets and on the few pedestrians who braves the slushy sidewalks. He remembers the image of a thin man with golden skin a little pale from his accident, gashes on the side of his face, black hair falling in disarray over soft velvet brown eyes. An almost fragile looking man who cried because he believed he lost everything. The same man maybe huddling on the street with snowflakes sticking to his shivering form as if each drop is a small increment of the burden he carries.

A man with no one. Within him, Minhyun feels the stirrings of a time-buried emotion that seems to understand the devastation of that kind of loneliness. But he quickly tamps it down.

Exhaustion seems to crash into Minhyun all at once. He hasn't slept at all after he left Jonghyun. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Jonghyun's expressive face looking up at him with disappointment. Strange at it may seem, it bothered him. It really bothered him.

"Minhyun, did you hear anything I said?"

"Of course, I am not deaf, Aron hyung." Minhyun asserts. "I need to find him."

"Yes. Get this release signed then he can go wherever he wants. And you won't find yourself in the middle of legal action a year or so from now. We need his signature for you to be free and clear."

"Fine." Minhyun says.

"My advice would be to pay whatever it takes to get it. He seems a bit naïve so it shouldn't cost you very much, if at all. But Minhyun, please be fair to the poor guy. He doesn't seem like the bad sort.”

No reaction is evidenced from Minhyun except for a small glint in his bespectacled eyes, a glint that only Minki sees and even doubts. It could have been a trick of the light.

Minhyun shrugs and strides over to the table. "Let's get this finished then. I still need to get to the office by 10." He sits down and while he drinks his grapefruit juice, he listens to Aron, Minki and Dong Ho talk about how Nu'Est Enterprises various corporations are coming along with half an ear. In his shielded thoughts, he can't rid himself of the niggling feeling that this guy, this Jonghyun, might cost him more than either he or Aron could ever imagine.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Jonghyun spends most of the day on the park bench, watching the world go by, snuggled in a huge parka someone had thrown away in the recycling bin just a block or two away from Mr. Moneybags' house.

Somehow, with all that's happened - falling to Earth, getting almost run over, meeting Hwang “Money” Minhyun - he almost forgot that it is the Christmas season. In the darkness of the night, Jonghyun was little lonely but once the sun came up, and Seoul came alive with people on the streets, Jonghyun's mood started to pick up.

Jonghyun just walks, moving and drinking in the details of the season. Storefronts are festooned with Christmas finery, cherry red ribbons, mistletoes, boughs of hollies, Santas with their pots and bells for charity. It is all new to Jonghyun and terribly exciting.

He wanders into one of the malls to take refuge from the light snowstorm and to keep himself warm. But once inside, he is caught by the spirit of the season - the smiling faces of cherry-cheeked children, people smiling and greeting each other.

There are all kinds of stuff for sale, some with functions Jonghyun can only dream about. It makes Jonghyun's head ache with just how much there is. St. Peter had said, that it's a materialistic age. But that didn't bother Jonghyun, as long as he sees people smiling, it is enough. The air feels joyous and alive.

By the time the storm stops, Jonghyun strolls towards the park, humming a Christmas carol he heard in the mall and smiling at everyone he meets.

Snow-covered trees and plants look like a confectioner's creation sprinkled with sugar on top. Ponds that had iced over takes on the quality of frosted mirrors and the fountains and birdbaths look like nature's very own Picasso creation.

Before long, the air sings sweetly of laughter and the jingle of bells attached on fanciful sleds. He smiles at the sound of the bells as he remembers the saying. _/Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings./_

For most of the afternoon, Jonghyun watches the children slide down a hill, their runners whizzing on the fresh snow and knocking down the 'Keep off the Grass' signs. Jonghyun yells out encouragement as they sled down the hill, even tries a few rides himself.

The children love him. Jonghyun finds out that he has a natural affinity for kids. He joins in the snowball fights. Though he declines when they asked him to go skating. He didn't have any skates with him after all. So he just waves them off and looks at them with a wistful smile when they run off towards the pond, skates in hand, and dire threats that the last one to the lake would be a rotten egg.

When night time falls, he is alone in the park and Jonghyun feels like a rotten egg. Jonghyun sighs. 

He is no more than an aimless wanderer in a foreign land. He found a little bit of joy in the laughter of the children which got him through a day that seems so long, but by the time the sun sets, he doesn't know what to do. He huddles against the cold, hugging his knees to himself as he draws his legs up to conserve body heat.

His breath frosts in the air in front of him the instant it leaves his mouth. It is *cold*. Jonghyun is astounded to know he can still be so cold with all the clothes he wears. He's used to the standard angel wear of flowing robes; being encased in a shirt, jeans, a cardigan (ripped), a fluffy parka and the muffler seem like overkill to him already. He also has shorts, something called boxers, on underneath the jeans, which he finds a bit silly. How do humans even have time in the day to do other things except dress and undress themselves! 

Nothing though can compare to the closest thing to Purgatory he ever comes across, the contraption in his jeans that the mortals call a zipper! It keeps jamming in the cloth from the boxers. Why would anyone make this infernal thing?!

The air is getting colder than the coldest cloud in Heaven. It distracts Jonghyun from his internal musings on his clothes as he feels the chill right through to his bones. He pulls his jacket and muffler even tighter around him, and looks around.

Everyone is hustling to whatever place they need to be in, there is purpose in their steps as they move quickly before Jonghyun. This makes Jonghyun feel so lost and alone, aware that he, among all the people in Seoul, has nowhere to go. He steps back and instinctively looks up to Heaven, to the place he had called home.

All he sees are the bright lights of the city and the towering skyscrapers all around him, so tall that they almost seem like hands reaching out to heaven. Jonghyun can barely see the stars sparkling in the sky. He wants to see the stars, want to reach out and touch them, wish on them in the hopes that they can grant his wish and lead him back to Heaven, to his home, to his friends.

After what seems to be an eternity of staring and wishing, Jonghyun stares bleakly down at the snow. He doesn't realise that the tears start to fall. They fall until he has no more tears to give, wiping at the salty almost-ice runnels on his cheek and eyes then he takes a deep breath.

_/Get ahold of yourself, Jonghyun. You have to make the best of the situation./_

He squares his shoulders and walks determinedly to a part of the city he hasn't explored before. Soon he realises that he is in the part of the city where people like him, homeless destitute people, huddles on street corners and alleys, around drums with fires in them, hands outstretched.

Jonghyun wonders, wistfully, just how many of them were like him, fallen angels.

After more walking, Jonghyun's stomach growls, reminding him that he hasn't eaten all day. He is also very cold and tired. Hesitantly, he approaches one of the fires where a motley crew of people huddles.

A careworn woman of about 60 notices him and moves, creating a little room for Jonghyun beside her. Jonghyun throws her a grateful glance before stretching out his hands towards the fire. The woman looks at him for a long moment. "Poor dear, so young. You haven't been homeless that long have you, dearie?"

"N..no, I haven't."

"It shows."

"It does?"

"Yes. Aside from your almost new clothes, you still have that shocked look in your eyes and you look far too innocent."

Jonghyun flushes in embarrassment. The woman chuckles. "Not too many of your kind back here, young one. I suggest you watch your back, learn the ways of the streets if you intend to stay alive."

"What's yo name, kid?" An old man in raggedy clothes asks Jonghyun.

"Jonghyun."

"Well, Jonghyun, Yo can stay here with us for as long as you like."

"Here." The kindly old woman presses a hot tin can into Jonghyun's palms. Jonghyun smells a sort of soup. He shakes his head. "N..no, you need this more than I do. I...I'm thankful for the heat. That's all I need."

"Don't be stupid, boy!" Another man, this time a 40-something male who looks so broken and careworn that Jonghyun's heart wants to cry for him. "You'll need your strength to survive. It's winter. Besides, Mi Na won't let you give it back, anyway."

"Damn right I won't." The woman says. "So drink up, Jonghyun."

" Thank you." Jonghyun manages to chatter out, a little choked up by the kindness and selflessness these homeless people show.

He quickly mutters a prayer of thanks before he drinks the piping hot soup. For all that it is watered down and barely has any taste, it is like ambrosia to Jonghyun.

For awhile he just absorbs the heat and the company, answering questions directed at him but as he got warmer and his mind could process information more clearly, he realises that he couldn't stay here. There is a vague compulsion in him to do something. What it is, he doesn't know, yet, but he just knows he must be here to do something. 

So with that, he thanks Mi Na and the others for their hospitality and sets out again into the cold night, walking, watching the snow drift, feeling more than a little lost and cold, and weary of heart, of mind and fast becoming weary of spirit.

Then, Jonghyun hears them. Bells. Church bells ringing out like a chorus of archangels - pure, clear tones calling out to him.

There is no one near the church when Jonghyun walks up the steps. Hesitantly, he reaches for the smooth wooden handle of the church's door, afraid that it is locked, that it would reject him just as Heaven rejected him.

He lets out a massive sigh of relief as the heavy church door ponderously opens beneath his touch. Inside, the church is warm and inviting, the electric lights a warm gold that makes the church seem so...sanctified There is peace here and Jonghyun's troubled mind settles into a semblance of it as he walks towards the altar, stopping just a few feet from it. He sits down on the pew, on the center aisle, and closes his eyes, trying to find even a facsimile of what he lost. Here, in God's home, surely he would be able to feel the distant tie to Heaven.

A minute or so later, his eyes grew unbearably heavy. He unwraps the muffler from around his neck and folds it carefully, putting it into the parka's inner pocket just as his eyes droop close. Hunger, exhaustion and the cold finally getting the best of him.

Jonghyun lies down and falls asleep.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Yah!"

Jonghyun is warm and comfortable. And tired. So very tired. He doesn't want to move or stir for the annoying sound.

"Yah!"

A pesky fly is buzzing into Jonghyun's ear. Or at least that is what he thinks as a half-asleep brain tries to process information that the fly actually forms words and not Z's.

"Yah, Jonghyun! Wake up!"

"Youngmin." Jonghyun mutters, pouting a little at his best friend's rudeness, while snuggling deeper into his clothing.

"For God's sake, let's just roll him to the floor."

"Sungwoon Hyung! Poor Jonghyun is already experiencing a hard time as it is. And besides you know we can't."

"Please stop arguing, hyungs!” Hyunbin, Jonghyun identifies by the voice, pleads. “We don't have a lot of time. Let me do it.” Jonghyun can hear three of his friends bickering in his dream or what seems like a dream. “Jonghyun hyung, another volcano erupted in the Southern Americas. Did you do it?”

“IT WASN'T ME.” Jonghyun says in panic, opening his eyes and sitting up quickly, fully awake now as he shoves his hair back from his wild-looking eyes. 

The three burst out in laughter.

“I've got to hand it to you, Hyunbin, that IS very effective.” Sungwoon says, grinning up at the youngest angel.

"Hyunbin?" Jonghyun blinks and looks around. "Youngmin!? Sungwoon hyung?!" He tries to reach out and hug his friends but his arms hold thin air as he falls forward and hits his nose on the solid wooden pew.

He blinks and rubs at the pained appendage for awhile before looking back at the three angels before him. "I forgot. I'm mortal now, I can't touch you."

His eyes glisten with emotion, something that is reflected in Youngmin's eyes. 

"I can't hug you."

"We know, Jonghyun."

"Youngmin, I'm so scared."

"Yah, Jonghyun. Do you know what's happening? We're coming to you in a dream. You know," Sungwoo hyung gestures, "the angel coming to you in a dream thing? Lesson 103?" Sungwoon hyung is a Guardian Angel so he has the most experience with angel visitations in the mortal plane.

Jonghyun smiles wryly. "I remember. I never could get that right either." He blinks. "Er, isn't someone suppose to turn on the light show and stuff like that?"

"Eh! I'm not a Guardian Angel so I'll pass.” Youngmin says, whispering conspiratorially to Jonghyun, 'Besides it's more fun to watch these two do it.” Youngmin expectantly looks at the two other angels with him.

"The DISRESPECT I get from you youngsters these days." Sungwoon shakes his head. "*I* was the one who pleaded with St. Peter to allow us to do this, remember?"

"Well then, Hyunbin-ie~" Youngmin says, turning to the youngest, and tallest of them all.

"But hyuuuung, I haven't even done a proper one before."

"Well, what better way to practice, come on then. Out with it!" Sungwoon says.

"Alright, alright!" Hyunbin says, taking a deep breath and fluttering his massive silver wings, churning up a mini-tornado as he hovers above Jonghyun, "Behold! I bring you tidings of great joy!" Hyunbin's voice cracks at the last word in embarrassment.

The three bursts out laughing just as Hyunbin stops fluttering and settles down on the front pew, his wings rippling for a few seconds before it folds into itself and unto Hyunbin's back. He glares at the three. "Hyungs~~~What!?"

"Funny~"Jonghyun chokes out. "I haven't...*snicker*I haven't seen that one since Joseph and Mary." Jonghyun rolls around the pew laughing.

Sungwoon and Youngmin does not even offer an opinion, they're too busy laughing their heads off.

"Jonghyun hyung, I tried really hard, you know. What was I suppose to do? Rap?" Hyunbin whinges, pouting at his precious Jonghyun hyung. A pose so like Hyunbin that Jonghyun is overrun by pangs of homesickness.

"I miss you all." Jonghyun blurts out.

"We miss you too Jonghyun hyung." Hyunbin replies miserably, his pout falling off so fast at Jonghyun's lonely tone. 

"Jonghyun-ah, we actually have good news.” Youngmin says, “Well, I think it's good news. Tell him Sungwoon hyung." Youngmin says and prods Sungwoon in the ribs.

The Guardian Angel preens a bit and strikes a dramatic pose. "Using my powers of persuasion," Youngmn snorts at Sungwoon's declaration. "I talked to our Guardian of the Gates. Saint Peter has relented."

"I get to come back?"

"Er, well, not exactly. At least not right now. But he says if you can perform a miracle -just one, mind you - here on Earth, then you can come back to Heaven."

Jonghyun's face falls. "I can't even create a miracle in Heaven. How can I make a miracle here on Earth without any of my angel powers."

"To be fair, Jonghyun,” Youngmin begins mildly, “I don't think it'd make any difference whether you have your powers or not, or even where you are." Youngmin says it gently enough.

"You're right, Min.” Jonghyun agrees, sighing heavily. “But really, guys, with your help, I'm sure I can think of something!" Jonghyun says, biting down on his lower lip as he tries to think.

"Actually, that's not necessary?"

"Eh? Why is that, Sungwoon hyung?"

"Saint Peter's decision is based on a more...specific sort of miracle." Sungwoon looks edgy as he drags out the last words in his sentence.

Not that Jonghyun notices. _/Another chance! Probably my last chance to get back to heaven./_ Jonghyun grips the edge of the pew and leans forward. "Anything! I'll do anything if it means I can go back."

"That's good." Youngmin sighs, sounding more hopeful.

"So tell me. What's the miracle?"

"It's a lesson. You have to teach a mortal to give from his heart."

Jonghyun remembers Mi Na and her small band of kindhearted homeless. Surely there are many like her in this huge city. He grins at the three angels in front of him. "I can do that."

Hyunbin is suddenly shifting from foot to foot. And Youngmin can't quite meet Jonghyun's eyes. Only Sungwoon looks at Jonghyun with unwavering eyes.

"You two look as if there's more to this specific miracle."

"There is." Sungwoon confirms.

Jonghyun waits and Hyunbin looks even more uneasy.

"I'm not going to like it am I?"

Hyunbin shook his head. "Nope."

"Why?"

"Saint Peter has picked the mortal."

"From your tone, Youngmin, I suspect it might be easier to convert the Devil than to teach this person a lesson."

"You could say that." Youngmin mutters.

"You can do it, Jonghyun hyung! I know you can." Hyunbin says with such encouragement that it leaves Jonghyun more dread- ridden. Hyunbin never gets this animated unless it's really a difficult task.

"Who's my miracle?"

"It's.. .Mijaklsfjlj;" Youngmin's voice trails off into gibberish.

"Who?"

"Hwinfdsjakl;fjal;no."

Jonghyun realises that he isn't going to get the answer from Youngmin so he turns to the one angel he knew he could trust to say it straight out. "Sungwoon hyung?"

"The financier Hwang Minhyun."

Jonghyun's mouth drops open. "Mr. Hwang I-Can-Buy-the-World-and-Power-is-My-Life Minhyun?"

The three nod.

Jonghyun groans and stares at the altar, dazed. "This is the worst punishment yet."

"He can't be that bad, Jonghyun hyung."

Jonghyun snorts. "Hyunbinnie~ You don't know him."

"Besides, look at the reward. It's the only chance you'll have. We all pleaded and begged for you. Please, Jonghyun hyung, just try."

Jonghyun looks up to Heaven, takes a deep breath and juts his chin out in a determined angle. "I'll try. I know I was joking when I said converting the Devil would be easier, but," Jonghyun sighs, "that's exactly what Saint Peter has asked me to do."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

It takes Minhyun a day of trying to find Jonghyun with the conventional means at his disposal to no avail before he finally gives in and asks Dong Ho to mobilise company resources. They find Jonghyun in less than half a day.

Minhyun sits in his limousine, parked at the curb, with the window down and watches Jonghyun standing in front of the church doors. From the way he is standing, he looks like the world is on his shoulders. His shoulders were slumped in such tired defeat, his bright red muffler dangling forgotten in one gloved hand. He has the bewildered look of a child who got himself lost on the streets without his parents in sight.

Then he sees Minhyun and his face drains of color for the briefest of moments.

Minhyun takes that as his cue to get out of the car, his eyes fixating on Jonghyun. He walks up the steps towards the other male with slow, unhurried steps.

Jonghyun swings his muffler around his neck and fusses around with it, looking everywhere but at Minhyun.

"Jonghyun." Minhyun inclines his head.

"Mr. Hwang." Jonghyun says with a curtness that conveys how he feels about Minhyun. He raises his chin and takes a step away from Minhyun. 

And almost strangles himself as his fluffy parka refuses to budge. Jonghyun tries tugging on the parka without looking back.

R-RRRIIIPPPP!

The sound of cloth ripping is loud in the morning air. Jonghyun freezes and his eyes grow as wide as dollar coins. He looks over his shoulder. At the same time, Minhyun peers past him. Jonghyun's parka is caught in the church doors. Minhyun's mouth almost twitches but he keeps his face impassive. Instead he opens the door to release the parka. "Allow me."

For a moment Jonghyun looks like he is going to explode but a flicker of humor flashes in his eyes at the situation. Nose purposefully high in the air, he inclines his head at Minhyun and gives him a dignified "Thank you." as he descends the steps slowly, his torn parka dragging like ribbons at his back.

For the second time in under two minutes, Minhyun bites back the sudden and foreign urge to smile. He moves to Jonghyun's side, his pace identical to Jonghyun's.

Jonghyun says nothing.

"Nice weather." Minhyun comments, for lack of anything to say.

"If you like snow."

"I do." Minhyun says firmly, It is one of the few things from his childhood he has happy memories of. Skiing in Aspen, with his grandparents was his dearest memories.

"So do I."

They reach Minhyun's limo then and the chauffeur quickly opens the door while Minhyun gestures for Jonghyun to get in.

Jonghyun stops in his tracks and gives Minhyun a questioning look.

"Get in."  
"No, thank you."  
"I wasn't asking."

"I can tell." Jonghyun's chin juts out to a familiar angle.

Minhyun's eyes narrows and he takes a deep breath before gritting out "May I offer you a lift?" through clenched teeth.

"No, I wouldn't want to keep you. After all, time *is* money."

Minhyun shrugs, sliding into the seat of the car, feeling disarmed by this naive slip of a man. He pins Jonghyun with a stare meant to make him as uncomfortable as Minhyun feels. To his surprise, brown eyes raise and hold his own. And something like a challenge passes between them.

A challenge Minhyun accepts.

After a moment, Jonghyun turns and saunters away.

Minhyun taps the glass separating the passenger's side with the driver's and motions for the driver to follow Jonghyun. The car inches forward slowly, keeping pace with the man walking the streets perfectly. 

"I've been looking for you."

"Why? No one for sale today?" Jonghyun doesn't once turn around as he throws that comment Minhyun's way.

Minhyun doesn't rise to the bait. "It's early yet."

"I don't think looking for me is profitable. You'd do better staring at your television screen, in that mausoleum you call a house, watching the stock market."

"I have some spare time." He checks his solid gold Rolex. "It's ten A.M. The banks have been open for an hour. I've made nearly a hundred thousand in interest already."

Jonghyun blinks but never missed a step. With a voice as bland as the grey sky above, he replies. "How nice for you."

"Don't you want to know why I was looking for you?"

"No."

Minhyun watches Jonghyun silently for a moment, tapping a finger against his thinned lips. Most who know Minhyun would know that he is at his most dangerous at this situation. But Jonghyun doesn't know that.

After a few steps in silence, Jonghyun stops abruptly with an expression of frustration on his face, one hand running through his scalp in an agitated manner. He looks straight at Minhyun. "I don't understand you."

"Don't even try."

Jonghyun pulls his gaze away and stares at his tightly clasped hands. "I think I might have to try." He whispers to himself. Jonghyun looks vulnerable in that moment. 

Without hesitation, Minhyun leans over to poke his head out of the window, resting an arm on the opening. "I have a proposition for you." He adjusts his glasses with the back of his hand and says in his most business-like voice. "Get in and we'll talk."

Jonghyun looks up into the sky and sighs. "I don't think I can do this. Seriously."

"How do you know? You haven't heard my offer."

Jonghyun shakes his head. "I can't explain."

Minhyun pauses to let the tension build. It's a tactic he uses often. It's never failed.

Time ticks by.

Jonghyun just stands there, looking at everything around him without appearing to be disturbed by Minhyun's glare.

"I'll give you a hundred dollars to get in this car right now."

Jonghyun's head whips back to him, velvet eyes narrowed and sharp. He stares for a moment before squaring his shoulders and walking away.

"Well?" Minhyun calls out after him.

"I don't think so."

He watches Jonghyun pass an alley crowded with shiftless homeless people. Sees Jonghyun talk and then hug a careworn old woman, slap some of the men on the back and then go his own merry way.

"Stay with him, Mr. Kwon!" Minhyun says into the intercom system before Jonghyun can disappear around the street corner. When the car is directly beside Jonghyun again, Minhyun leans back and counted to five before he says, "Two hundred."

"No thanks."  
"Five."  
Jonghyun shakes his head and starts to whistle.  
"A thousand."  
Jonghyun runs into a streetlight and steps back quickly, acting like he didn't just hit his face into the pole in surprise.

Minhyun can't help the small smile that comes to his features then. " Five...thousand."

Jonghyun spins around. Minhyun can't tell if he is stunned or horrified.

"You're serious?"  
"Very serious."  
"Five thousand dollars?"  
"Yes."  
Jonghyun blinks. "Cash?"  
"Yes."  
"Now?"  
"Yes."  
Jonghyun walks over to Minhyun and holds out his hand, palm up. Minhyun smiles in triumph. 

Minhyun opens the door and steps onto the sidewalk, pulling out his wallet from his breastpocket and taking out crisp bills folded neatly in two. He puts the wad of bills on Jonghyun's open palm.

"Count it please." Jonghyun tells him.  
"What?"  
"You need to count the bills into my hand. Just to make sure it's correct. You wouldn't want to make a mistake."

An irritated look flies across Minhyun's eyes as he snatches the money from Jonghyun and counts each bill.

"Thank you."  
"Get inside the car." Minhyun says curtly.  
"Wait just a moment." Jonghyun hurries past him.  
"NOW. Jonghyun." Minhyun calls out. "I mean it."

Jonghyun just waves a hand at Minhyun's threat in dismissal, already halfway back to the alley. He stops in front of a group of old people and puts a two-hundred-dollar bill each into their hands, then does the same to every one he sees. Finally he stands in front of the old lady and the ragtag band of men he talked to before and handed them the rest of the money.

"Thank you for the last two nights." Jonghyun hugs the old woman. "Merry Christmas."

The homeless people in the alley looks at the bills in their hands then looks at Jonghyun like he is God's own angel come down to help them.

Minhyun catches a whisper of a smile on Jonghyun's lips as he spins around and walks towards him. When he finally stands in front of Minhyun, he raises his chin and quietly says, "Okay, Minhyunnie, I'm ready now."

Jonghyun just gave away five thousand dollars to shiftless homeless people without a thought and only minutes before Minhyun himself handed it to him. Minhyun doesn't know if he wants to strangle Jonghyun or congratulate him. So he just stands there, staring down at Jonghyun in surprise.

Again.

In just a span of a few days, Jonghyun manages to surprise him more than any other person has. Oddly, and perversely, he feels a strange sense of satisfaction as he silently helps Jonghyun climb into the limo and close the door.

They sit there for a moment, just measuring one another. It is another kind of challenge, Minhyun realises.

Jonghyun appears inordinately proud of himself. He can tell by Jonghyun's expression, which is halfway between a smirk and rebellious determination. Minhyun waits a moment, letting Jonghyun bask in his victory. 

Casually, Minhyun props his chin on his hand and looks out the window, then he drawls out , "I would have paid more."

"Would you have?" Jonghyun raises an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Interesting." Jonghyun cocks his head and tugs on his fringe. "I thought you needed a lesson on how to treat people."

Jonghyun leans forward to prop an elbow on his knee and drops his chin on his fist, looking for the entire world like an innocent little boy. He looks right into Minhyun's eyes, his eyes sparkling teasingly and Minhyun swears he can see a universe of stars in them. "I'll tell you a secret."

"What?"

"I would have come for nothing."


	4. Please touch my heart just once (all day, it's so cold)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonghyun picks up the gauntlet thrown in challenge, to show Minhyun what he is missing, but he might have bitten off more than he can chew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caveats:  
> 1\. I'm not sure if Seoul actually has an outside pond used for ice skating but I based the prices off of American prices ;0; Sort of.  
> 2\. It's surprising what you find out when you look in the internet. I had to make sure that Seoul actually had Christmas holidays and they do! 30% of South Koreans are Christians! Whoa!  
> 3\. I realise that Minhyun's house is more western than Korean but please gloss over it ;0; I've never been to S. Korea oTL  
> 4\. Early release of this chapter can be attributed to cey who now owes me a fic :P

Jonghyun sits in the large leather wing chair in Minhyun's study and looks at the paintings, the antique furnishings, the long elegant windows that look out over the street two stories below, and the snow that is falling outside. He looks at everything. Except Minhyun.

"Jonghyun."

Jonghyun turns towards him.

He doesn't look at Jonghyun. He sits behind his massive cherry oak desk, his chair facing the right side of the room, his gaze fixed on a Rembrandt painting on the wall. Minhyun maintains a relaxed position and picks up an old-fashioned fountain pen on his desk, absently tapping one end on his desk blotter. "You said something that caught my attention when you were in this house before."

Jonghyun doesn't say anything though he does wonder what he could have said that could possibly be of interest to someone like Minhyun.

"You claimed there are things that money can't buy."

"There are."

"I don't agree."

"Why am I not surprised?" Jonghyun mutters. "But..."

Before Jonghyun could say another word, Minhyun raises his hand. "Let me finish. I don't agree but I like challenges."

"What a surprise." Jonghyun says wryly.

Minhyun gives Jonghyun a pointed glare, indicating that he wants Jonghyun to be silent. Jonghyun gives him what he wants.

"I find what you said very intriguing."

"And? What are you getting at, exactly?" Jonghyun says, his features scrunching up in concentration.

"I'm giving you the opportunity to prove your point."

"I don't exactly understand you." Jonghyun says cautiously.

"You claim that you have no place to go."

Jonghyun nods. "It isn't a claim. It's the truth."

"If that is the case, then it is simple. I'm offering you this house to stay in. You, in turn, will attempt to prove your theory correct." 

Minhyun swings his chair to face Jonghyun. "Prove to me that there are things in this world that money can't buy."

"Why?" Jonghyun blurts out. "Why this? And why me?"

Minhyun leans back with a bored look that Jonghyun thinks is too calculated to be real. "For entertainment."

"But you called this a challenge."

"It is." Minhyun raises the pen again and twirls it lazily. "You see, while you are trying to show me the things that money can't buy, I, in turn, will show you just exactly what money *can* buy. Each of us will be out to prove our point."

"What are the stakes?"

Minhyun looks surprise but then his mouth quirks up and laughter pours forth. An honest genuine laugh with no sardonic tone to it. It sounds rusty to Jonghyun, like a gate left un-oiled for a long time, like it isn't used often. There is an amused glint to his eyes.

"Name your price."

Jonghyun shakes his head. "You always think in terms of money, don't you?"

"Name your reward then."

Jonghyun thinks about his circumstances and his goal. This is almost too easy, like Minhyun's plot is playing right into Jonghyun's hands.

Maybe, Jonghyun thinks optimistically, his years in heaven has finally earned him even a miniscule amount of divine help. Or perhaps kissing the bumper of Minhyun's disgustingly expensive car has knocked him senseless because he can't help but feel like he's walking into a trap.

"Anything?" Jonghyun ventures cautiously.

There is something dangerous and wicked in Minhyun's eyes when he answers. "Absolutely anything."

"Then," Jonghyun says, propping his arms on the table and leaning forward to stare Minhyun in the eyes, "if I prove you wrong, you will, personally, and once a week, find and create an opportunity for one who has lost all hope. Someone like those people I gave your five thousand dollars to today."

Jonghyun watches for Minhyun's reaction.

"Fine."

Jonghyun freezes. Minhyun agreed too easily. He looks suspiciously at the man behind the desk. "What do *you* get out of this?"

For a while it seems that Minhyun would not answer Jonghyun as he stares at the release papers in his hands. He appears to be thinking deeply.

After a long silence, Jonghyun cocks his head and says, "Minhyunnie~?"

Minhyun looks up.

"You haven't answered me."

Minhyun gives the paper another long look, then seems to come to a decision as he sets it aside with a perfunctory flick of his wrist.

"I'll get companionship." He says in a clipped tone as he braces his hands on his desk, standing up quickly. He shuffles the papers on his desk into an orderly pile and in a business-like tone, tells Jonghyun "I have an engagement to attend tomorrow night and another a few days later. You will accompany me."

Minhyun turns away then and walks to the windows to stare at the street outside.

"Er, you mean, like, go with you?"

"Yes."

"With the others?"

"Not tomorrow night. The others have things they have to attend to but they will be coming for the other event."

"So it's just the two of us?"

"Yes."

Jonghyun's eyebrow rose up. "Aren't you afraid of being censured?"

"The opinion of others have never mattered to me."

Jonghyun blinks. "Oh, well, if that's the case then that's that." He continues. “So that's it? That's all I do? Just go with you?"

"Anywhere I ask."

Jonghyun stands up enthusiastically. "Okay then. We have a deal."

Minhyun presses a button on the intercom and the butler Mr. Kim enters. Minhyun is facing the butler but his gaze is on Jonghyun. "Show Jonghyun to the gold suite, Mr. Kim."

Suddenly, Jonghyun has an uneasy feeling that he has just jumped into a lake with his hands and feet tied.

"See that he has everything he wishes," Minhyun pauses, a silence filled with meaning, then adds, "Anything that money can buy."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The gold suite is just as its name implies. The bed is gold. The walls had panels that are covered in gold-flecked wallpaper, then wainscoted in gilt. The high ceiling is coffered and painted with a sunrise scene of golden magnificence and the floor is a rich golden oak, or it looked like golden oak with designs in a deeper gold. A thick plush rug of light *golden* yellow accentuates everything else. As if it isn't already overkill that everything in the room is monochromatically similar.

Jonghyun looks down on the carpet, half-expecting to find the carpet pattern to be interlocking dollar signs and is relieved to note that it is just an obscure floral design.

He sighs and crosses the room to open a door that leads to a dressing room almost the size of the bedroom itself. Three quarters of it are panelled in mirrors, all gilt framed of course. And through another door with gold handles shaped like dolphins is a private bath of yellow marble with gold dolphin fixtures and gold faucets.

"Holy God!" He mutters. "A gold sink!" He stares at it and the gold-framed mirror above in disbelieving horror. Then something is reflected in the mirror and Jonghyun's mouth drops open as he realises what it is. He blinks, once, twice then turns around to take a good look.

The toilet is a golden throne.

He gapes at it for a second before he bursts out into hysterical laughter. Laughter that intensifies each time he takes in the accoutrements of the bathroom. He laughs so hard that he sinks to his knees on the yellow marble floor.

This has to be a joke. It's just too unbelieveable not to be.

But as Jonghyun stands there long enough, the situation becomes less funny by the moment. All of it is made from high quality materials, the best that money can buy. An incalculable amount of money has been used to make this that could have been put to better use, Jonghyun thinks as he remembers the homeless people.

He mood turns sober quickly as he almost runs out of the ludicrous bathroom, feeling very saddened and a little bit overwhelmed and pessimistic about his chances of ever teaching Minhyun anything.

Once in the bedroom, he just stands in the center and stares around him. Every piece of furniture in the room, every painting, every material from the fireplace to the objects d'art are coldly flawless. Expensive. Priceless.

Minutes pass, one by one. Time revealing what Jonghyun hasn't understood before. The man who owns the house, this room, needs to learn more than just how to give from his heart. He is so lost, his values so skewed, that Jonghyun wonders if Minhyun can ever find joy or happiness in just living. If he even understands the human spirit or anything that matters in the world.

Jonghyun curls up on the bed, hugging one of the expensive plump down pillows with the golden fringes on the gold covers as he stares up at the canopy with a sense of grief so very deep it touches him in a way nothing has done before.

And without any outward reason, a tear drops down from eyes suddenly misty with moisture. Then another and another until he is crying silently. He turns over and buries his head in his arms, sobbing now, wracking sobs that come from his very soul.

Jonghyun is crying, but not for himself. He is crying for Minhyun, a fallen soul.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Minhyun descends from the car, looking up the stairs leading up to his home to find Jonghyun watching him from one of the windows upstairs. Just for a moment, before the black mop of fluffy hair disappears, leaving the drapes swing softly back into place. Minhyun stares at the window for a moment longer before going up the long expanse of snowy steps to the door, fighting an urge to smile.

The front doors swing open wide and early, even before he reaches it.

Mr. Kim must be looking for a raise, Minhyun muses but to his surprise it is Jonghyun who meets him at the door. He is wearing his parka and everything else he had on since the accident, the back of his parka trailing like shredded ribbons behind him.

Minhyun frowns as he cocks his head to one side, gesturing at the upstairs window. "Weren't you just upstairs?"

Jonghyun nods.

Minhyun looks down the front steps. There are twenty of them. He knows that the main staircase has at least that amount steps again. How in God's name did Jonghyun manage to meet him at the front door?

He looks at Jonghyun who is flushed a bright healthy pink and panting a little as if he is out of breath. He fights another urge to smile. “Did you run down the staircase?”

“Maybe.” Jonghyun says a little breathlessly.

Minhyun gestures to his clothing. "Going somewhere?"

"Yes. The five of us are."

"Five?"

"Dongho, Minki and Aron are coming with us."

"I see. And how did you get them to agree out of their busy schedules?"

“He pestered our secretaries until they managed to fit him in.” Dongho says, coming out of the house and ruffling Jonghyun's hair as he approaches. “I don't think I've ever seen my secretary so frazzled. It was funny.” 

“I hope this is important.” Aron grumbles as he buttons up his coat, “I'm not finished drawing up those merger papers you've asked for, Minhyun.”

“Ren?” Minhyun asks. “I thought you had a meeting with Versace.”

Minki shrugs. “It'll be fun to be the one to stand them up once in awhile. Besides, we haven't had an off day in a long time.'

Minhyun turns back towards Jonghyun. "Why are we going out?"

Jonghyun smiles at him. "You said I was supposed to prove my theory. Well, I'm ready."

"For what, exactly?"

"Your entertainment."

Minhyun gives Jonghyun a long pointed look.

Jonghyun stares back at him with brown eyes that are a little too red.

"Have you been crying?"

Jonghyun looks away, scuffing his sneakers on the snowy step. "I had something in my eye."

"Both of them?" Minhyun challenges.

Jonghyun juts out his chin. It is defiance at his best, Jonghyun's best. "Yes."

Minhyun is immune to such defiance. He can outwait Jonghyun. He crosses his arms with equal stubbornness, glaring down at Jonghyun.

Unfazed, Jonghyun holds out a beat-up bag. "Here."

"What's this?"

"It's a surprise."

Minhyun gingerly takes the bag from Jonghyun.

Jonghyun stands there, silently waiting in expectation. Minhyun mirrors him, standing there, silently amused.

It begins to snow again and Jonghyun looks up into the sky. "Come on." He says finally and threads his arm through Minhyun's, all but dragging him down the steps and interlinking his other arm with Minki's as soon as he is within reach.

When they had reach the end of the steps, it is to see the limousine disappear around the bend, heading for the garage at the back of the house.

"Wait here. I'll call the chauffeur."

"Stop right there." Jonghyun tugs on his arm, simultaneously waving at the others descending the steps to where they are. "We're walking."

"It's snowing, Jonghyun."

"I told him that already but he wouldn't listen." Dongo interjects cheerily as the rest of the others finally descends the steps. Ren has a slightly disgruntled look on his face, muttering about ruining his patent leather shoes and Aron just throws Minhyun a long-suffering look.

Jonghyun smiles up at everyone, oblivious to the general gloom directed his way. "Come on, you guys! Walking in the snow is the best part."

"He's crazy." Aron mutters under his breath.

"Can we *please* get going?" Minki says, almost in a whining tone, almost. Because God forbid that perfect Minki would whine. “This cold weather is going to dry my skin to oblivion.”

"Come along then." Jonghyun says cheerfully.

A few minutes later, they are all walking down the sidewalk, everyone is carrying an identical bag. Jonghyun lets go of Minki to swing his arm holding the bag cheerily, while the other hangs on to Minhyun's arm, as if preventing him from running out on Jonghyun. Jonghyun chatters about the snow and the scenery as they pass them by. He hums a Christmas tune and smiles at people, wishing perfect strangers "Merry Christmas."

Eventually, Dongho is infected with Jonghyun's cheer and he joins in greeting people and singing Christmas tunes. The wide grin on Dongho's face transforms it from his usual scary business mafia “persona” to fluffy, harmless puppy.

When Jonghyun pokes Minki to join in, he receives a slap on the wrist and an exasperated eyeroll. Aron obliges with a weak greeting every once in awhile.

And Minhyun? He tells Jonghyun firmly that he is not going to and that was that.

When they near the park, Jonghyun grasps Minhyun's hand and pulls him across. He is singing about bells and angels when he leads all of them down a snowy path to a clearing where there is a frozen pond. The surrounding trees and bushes are heavy with snow.

Jonghyun plops down on a park bench up a hill across from the pond and pats the spaces next to him. "Come on guys! Sit! Sit!"

Minhyun bends down and dusts the snow off Jonghyun's left side before he sits down. Everyone reluctantly follows.

"Is sitting on a snowy park bench your idea of entertainment?"

"Of course not!" Jonghyun says as he takes the bag from him and drops it on his lap, opening the bag and rummaging inside. A second later he looks up, grinning. Dangling from his hands are a a pair of beat-up old ice-skates.

"Yours." He plunks them down on Minhyun's lap.

Minhyun stares down at them just as Jonghyun opens his own bag. "And here's mine!"

"This is the surprise?"

Jonghyun nods. "And it's absolutely free."

"Where did the skates come from?" Minhyun says, darting a glance at the three who are looking at their skates in varying states of emotion.

"I borrowed them. For free." Jonghyun says smugly. "Go ahead and put them on." He bends down and takes off his sneakers to stick his feet in the skates. Just as he does so, Minki whinges.

“We're too old for this sort of thing. Isn't it embarrassing for five grown men to be skating?”

“Oh, come on, Minki.” Dongho chides the petulant man, “It won't hurt to try for a few minutes.”

Minhyun feels more inclined towards Minki's reaction right now. He glances down at Jonghyun who is bent over tying the strings together and lifting one foot, examining his skates as if they are glass slippers. "Not bad." The brunette says with obvious delight.

Minhyun is about to tell Jonghyun that businessmen with busy schedules cannot spend their time skating but before he can do so Jonghyun notices that he hasn't made a move towards his skates. Jonghyun plants his hands on his hips. "You haven't put them on yet. I thought you said you liked challenges."

"Well, I didn't say that." Aron announces, “so I should be left off the hook.”  
"Nor did I." Minki chimes in.  
"You spoilsports..." Dongho tells the other two, pushing the bag insistently towards Aron.

"Put on the damn skates. " Minhyun says quietly, glaring at the others as he bends down to put his own on.

"But."  
"But."

"Just put them on." Minhyun growls.

Of course no one wants to argue with Minhyun when he is like this so the others quietly do as they are told.

When Minhyun looks up an instant later, it is to find Jonghyun walking down the path to the pond. Jonghyun is sauntering like a conquering king. From the way he carries himself, one would never know he still has this large rip in his parka from the church incident, or that his clothes had small holes in them from the car accident.

Funniest thing. For the first time in too many years to count, Minhyun isn't bored.

"Better hurry," Jonghyun calls out over his shoulder in a singsong voice. "The last one there has to give five thousand dollars to the poor!"

Dongho's “hoooo~~~” was very enthusiastic as he hurries after Jonghyun. Minki follows behind, muttering darkly about how Dongho's regressed to his childhood.

"At least someone is enjoying this." Aron says ruefully, stalking after the two, and shaking his head in amusement at Dongho's enthusiasm.

Watching his most trusted executives and closest confidants trudge down the path in skates, following an innocent looking boy like they are going to an execution, Minhyun can't help but smile to himself for the third time that day.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"What? What do you mean we have to pay six dollars each for entry? That's not fair~" Jonghyun says as he stares in dumbfounded disbelief at the park official in a blue uniform coat. The official stands inside a small toll booth that was hidden by trees and bushes from where they had came from.

The man leans forward from the window in his booth with an air of indifference. "Look, man, I don't know or care where you get your sense of fairness from, but the fact remains that there's a six dollar toll to use the pond. Either you pay or you don't skate. It's as easy as that."

Jonghyun can hear someone coming down the path, several someones. He doesn't want to turn around and see the triumph in Minhyun's hard face but he doesn't have any choice. Directly behind him he can hear four pairs of skates crunching in the snow.

"What's the matter?" Minhyun asks.

Jonghyun stares at the ground for the longest time before he finally looks up and admits. "I was wrong. There's a fee to skate."

“Well then, I guess we should go home!” Minki says, not even bothering to hide his grin as he tries to link his arm through Jonghyun's, with the intention of dragging him away. Before Minki even takes one step, Jonghyun hears the faint dry rustle of money so he looks up.

Minhyun holds out a hand with crisp new dollar bills on them. His intent clear.

"No, Minhyun. Please?" Minki pleads. 

Jonghyun shakes his head and says "No", crossing his arms to refuse the money. When Jonghyun wouldn't take them, Minhyun turns towards the official. "How much does this booth take in on a good day?"

The man shrugs. "A thousand, maybe twelve hundred."

Minhyun gives him twelve hundred-dollar bills then adds fifty dollars to it. "Consider this a good day and close up."

Jonghyun starts to say something but Minhyun grabs his arm and pulls him along. A second later his hands are on Jonghyun's hips and with a gentle shove, he propels Jonghyun onto the ice.

Jonghyun wants to protest loudly that Minhyun paid for something Jonghyun planned to be free, that they don't have to do this, that he could find something else they can do.

Except that he'd forgotten one, little, itsy-bitsy detail.

He has never ice-skated before.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

For the second time since the car accident, Minhyun stares down at Jonghyun. Last time, it had been on hard pavement, this time he sprawls facedown on the hard ice with Dongho laughing hysterically behind him.

Jonghyun turns his head and looks up at Minhyun. "I've discovered something." He says with a rueful expression in his eyes. "Without wings, you can't hang onto thin air."

Minhyun squats down next to him. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"Only my pride." Jonghyun says with some humor in his voice as he pushes himself up on his hands and knees.

Minhyun straightens and grabs Jonghyun by the waist as he picks him up off the ice. He doesn't trust Jonghyun's clumsiness if he offers only a stabilising hand. Jonghyun would probably pull him down and Minhyun woud also fall flat on his face. He sets Jonghyun down carefully and for no reason he can think of, leaves his hands where they are on Jonghyun's slender waist because it felt right.

"I assumed you could skate."

"So did I." Jonghyun's blades slip and he can't help the squeak of surprise that comes out. Not wanting to fall, he grabs at the one stationary thing that is in his vicinity, which happens to be Minhyun's waist. He applies a death grip.

Jonghyun peers up at Minhyun, his face 10 degrees redder than it normally is and says, "It looks so easy."

"Turn around."

"No? I can't do that without letting go."

"Then let go and slowly turn around."

"I can't do miracles." Jonghyun mutters.

“Stubborn pabo.” Minhyun doesn't even blink as he braces himself and spins Jonghyun around so Jonghyun's back is to him. Minhyun is still holding unto Jonghyun's waist. Jonghyun blinks at him for a second.

"Keep your ankles together and your back straight. I'll help you."

"You can skate." Jonghyun says flatly.

Minhyun's answer is to tighten his hands on Jonghyun's waist and push off, skating smoothly and keeping Jonghyun in front of him. While skating, Minhyun feels a heated hostile gaze on the back of his neck so he swung around but finds no one looking. Minhyun brushes the thought and the feeling aside, shrugging as he continues to skate with Jonghyun in his arms.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Hyunbin!!!" Youngmin admonishes as soon as the financier turns his back around. "Stop glaring at his back! I swear he sensed that."  
The tall young angel is floating in the air following the financier and ex-angel skating around the pond, glaring so hard that it looks like he's trying to burn a hole into Minhyun's back.

“But Youngmin hyung, he's so...dodgy. He shouldn't even be holding him." Hyunbin whines, his eyes never wavering from Minhyun and Jonghyun. "Jonghyun hyung can skate on his own."

Sungwoon snickers at Hyunbin's statement. "Are we talking about the same Jonghyun, Hyunbin? The minute ol' Minhyun takes his hands off of Jonghyun, our dear friend will fall flat on his face." He shakes his head affectionately. "Some things never change, in heaven or earth. And Jonghyun being clumsy is one of those things. You wouldn't want Jonghyun to hurt himself now do you?"

Hyunbin grunts. He can't dispute that fact. But he still doesn't like the fact that the dodgy financier is holding Jonghyun tight.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"You're wobbling, Jonghyun. Keep your shoulders back."

Jonghyun straightens up at that and put his hands over Minhyun's. "You're right. It is easier!"

He looks over his shoulder at Minhyun, wanting to share the experience. His cheeks are flushed and he is grinning from ear to ear, brown eyes sparkling with enjoyment. "This is fun!" He chortles.

Minhyun skates faster, until he can feel the cold air on his face and his exertions fog up his glasses a bit. Jonghyun's laughter rings out louder and clearer as he does so.

Before long, the subtle scent of sunshine drifts back to Minhyun, mixing with the laughter that rings out in the pond. Jonghyun's laughter, the pure sound of it does something strange to him. It made him want more. So round and round he skates, just to hear the joy in Jonghyun's voice.

He is concentrating so much on the male in his arms that he doesn't even notice the other three who are stealthily sneaking away from the pond. Not that Minhyun would have cared right then.

A compulsion to look down into Jonghyun's smiling face overtakes Minhyun. He looks down at the same time that Jonghyun looks up. An electric jolt of feeling ran through him to see such honest emotion so freely shown to him.

Over time, he has come to accept that he is an outsider in a world where, no matter how much he spent or how much power he had, he never felt as if he belonged. For twenty-seven years an emptiness has always existed in him.

And now, for this one brief instant, doing something as mundane as skating on a park's pond with Jonghyun looking at him as Jonghyun did - as if he has given Jonghyun the whole world - he thought that perhaps that emptiness could be filled.

It surprises Minhyun to think that he might see in Jonghyun, this odd man who claims to be fallen, a small glimpse of that part of him that he thought he has lost. A part that, if he admits it to himself, would make him complete.

He forces himself to break contact, to reclaim his objectivity. 

"Now you try." He gives Jonghyun a small push, and Jonghyun yells for help.

Minhyun makes no move to answer the plea for help, he just stands there watching Jonghyun wobble and shuffle his feet, staring suspiciously at the ice as if he thinks it would suddenly form ridges to trip him, occasionally swinging his arms when he loses his tenuous hold on his balance.

Minhyun's mouth quirks up in amusement. He cups his hands around his mouth and in a voice just loud enough to carry, says, "Keep your back straight.” Jonghyun doesn't straighten, he stands as stiff as a streetlamp.

In the next few minutes, Jonghyun must have called Minhyun's name with every breath, half yelling and half laughing, until he is coming at Minhyun at too fast a speed, his arms out and his mouth wide open. He was obviously out of control.

Minhyun reaches for him but he whips past him. Newton's Law of Motion eventually stops Jonghyun in the form of a tree trunk. He hits it hard, hard enough to make Jonghyun grunt. Hard enough to shake the tree and make the snow from the branches fall in giant clumps.

To fall dead straight on Jonghyun's head with a resounding 'phlump'.

Minhyun laughs. He can do little else. Snow is everywhere, on his face, his hair, his clothes. Jonghyun is covered with the sudden avalanche, his peripheral limbs the only things visible in the white stuff.

After a bit of struggling Jonghyun eventually is able to get out from under the snow. His eyes, what shows between the small clumps of snow on his lashes, are dancing like Christmas lights. They look incandescent, incandescent and furious at Minhyun for laughing.

Minhyun knows he should be helping Jonghyun get rid of the snow but he can't stop laughing.

After a moment, during which Minhyun finally has control of himself, Jonghyun calls out, "Hey, Minhyun!"

Minhyun turns.

"Here's something money can't buy!" Jonghyun flings a snowball at him that knocks his hat right out from his head.

It's Jonghyun's turn to laugh.

Minhyun turns around to look for his hat and turns back as another wad of loose snow speeds past his nose. "Lousy aim." Minhyun snickers as he skates towards Jonghyun, slowly, with purpose. 

He doesn't know that he is smiling but Jonghyun does and it makes Jonghyun's smile grow wider.

"Isn't this fun?" Jonghyun stands in the fresh snow that edges the pond as he flings another snowball at Minhyun. 

Minhyun had to dodge this one since close proximity compensates for Jonghyun's erratic aim. Jonghyun, meanwhile, steps back a few paces and bends down to scoop up more snow. Before he forms a ball he looks up by chance...

Minhyun's purpose hasn't changed. "Uh-oh." Jonghyun says, catching the vengeful gleam in Minhyun's eyes.

A second later, Jonghyun runs like hell through the snow, far away from Minhyun.

Minhyun shouts Jonghyun's name and though Minhyun has never before ran after anyone in his life, he runs after Jonghyun into the deeper snow.

Jonghyun's red muffler trails like a bright red banner, an easy beacon for the longer legged Minhyun to follow. He tackles Jonghyun and they roll in the snow, down a short embankment and under a cluster of low trees. Jonghyun is still laughing when they stop rolling, Minhyun on top pinning Jonghyun on the ground.

Snow sparkles on Jonghyun's face like diamonds. His muffler is crushed behind him and his hair is spread out in his face in wild disarray, a deep, dark black on the white snow. Jonghyun's chest rises and falls as each breath changes to mist in the small space of air between them.

And then, he smiles at Minhyun. A smile that seems just for Minhyun.

It feels perfectly natural to cup Jonghyun's head in his hands. Natural to lower his mouth to Jonghyun's. And natural to taste Jonghyun when he gasps. But what happens after that is as unnatural as Jonghyun is unconventional.

Minhyun hears bells.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Jonghyun dreams that night that Minhyun didn't stop kissing him in the park. He dreams that Minhyun didn't look at him so strangely after. He knows that look. It's the same look the archangels had when he had knocked them off of Jacob's ladder, as if they couldn't believe Jonghyun is real.

Jonghyun almost wonders if the kiss was real. It's the closest thing to Heaven he's found on earth. He stretches and throws back the covers, swinging his bare legs down over the side and dangling them.

Jonghyun still sleeps in Minhyun's silk shirt with the tails that brushes past his knees. Minhyun is significantly taller than he is after all. But despite the lack of apparel under the shirt, he isn't cold, even if frost did edge the windows. Minhyun's household has central heating and if that isn't enough, a fire crackles in the fireplace, compliments of Junseo, the manservant who brought Jonghyun hot chocolate in the mornings and loaned him the skates.

Morning light streams through the bedroom windows as Jonghyun stands up and presses the button which opens the drapes automatically. On the street below, cars are stuck in the traffic common to a bustling metropolis, muffled honks filtering in the room just a little bit.

Jonghyun wonders what Minhyun is doing now. Probably off to make more money. Jonghyun shakes his head in disbelief. The man knew how much money he made by the minute.

From this very same window Jonghyun watched Minhyun leave early this morning, when every sane human is still asleep, accompanied by his workaholic lawyer, Aron (which only reinforces Jonghyun's theory that sane people did not go out that early in the morning. Dongho and Minki went out at around 8 A.M.) 

A sharp rap rattles the door. Jonghyun jumps back into bed and pulls up the covers. "Yes?"

The door opens slowly and Junseo appears. "Sir, your trunks have arrived."

"My trunks?" Jonghyun repeats stupidly.

Junseo nods and Jonghyun leans to the left to peer past Junseo out into the hall, where dozens of boxes sat on the floor.

Junseo steps back. "Your things. Master Minhyun informed me that they would arrive this morning."

"He did?" Jonghyun is still goggling at the vast amounts of boxes.

"I'll run your bath, Mr. Jonghyun, and you can relax while Mr. Kim and I bring everything inside."

Jonghyun takes the fastest bath in history. Then he asks Junseo for some time alone. As soon as the manservant leaves, he flies into the bedroom, rebuttons his shirt and just stands amidst the incredible amount of boxes. Jonghyun is certain that there is enough in this room to clothe all of the homeless in Seoul.

A little while later Jonghyun is convinced Minhyun has bought out at least half of Seoul. There are clothes for EVERY occasion. Three-piece suits, sweaters, pullovers, coats, shorts, shoes, embossed with funny names on them like Armani, Versace, Klein, Lauren, Girbaud. These humans really had such funny names, Jonghyun thinks.

Jonghyun plops down on the floor near one of the piles disinterestedly. Jonghyun feels an obligation to at least look at one of the clothes more closely because Minhyun went to the trouble of buying them. He grabs one of the boxes on top of the pile, lifts the lid and pushes the tissue aside.

His heart stops for one precious moment.

Inside is a dressing robe of snow-white silk, pure and shining, run through with tiny silver threads. The silk is as soft and white as a cloud and the silver lining twinkles like so many stars. The robe almost resembles the robes Jonghyun used to wear. A little part of Heaven. Jonghyun's Heaven. His only memory.

He hugs it to his chest and just sits there for the longest time, misty- eyed and unaware that he isn't alone.

"I thought you'd be pleased by this, seeing that your own clothes are ruined." Minhyun stands in the doorway, watching with an edged look that says volumes. He doesn't understand why Jonghyun looks so melancholiac in the midst of all his gifts.

"They're very nice."

Nice wouldn't have been the first word Minhyun chooses to describe the expensive wardrobe but that isn't his concern right now. "So nice that you're crying again."

Jonghyun shakes his head and says wistfully, "I'm just remembering something I've lost."

Almost immediately, Minhyun tenses. He looks angry. "Get dressed." His voice is tight.

Jonghyun gives Minhyun a confused look. He doesn't understand Minhyun's anger.

Minhyun's face turns hard, and the look in his eyes is as black as his features. "Come downstairs quickly."

"We're going out?"

"Yes."

Minhyun pauses for a moment, his hand on the door handle. He turns around. "I don't know who did this to you," He grits out. "But I'd like to get my hands on them." And before Jonghyun can say word, Minhyun shuts the door.

Jonghyun stares, completely baffled. He did this to himself. If Minhyun wanted to get his hands on the person who created Jonghyun's situation, Jonghyun was right here.

He drops the dressing robe and walks back to the bed, grabbing one of the casual denim jeans and simple white shirts as he walks into the dressing room, his thoughts dwelling on what Minhyun said. After the kiss in the park, he knew he would be perfectly happy if Minhyun wanted to put his hands on him.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Minhyun hands Aron various documents he's requested and stands up. They leave the library and go into the foyer where he leans against the newel post, idly watching Aron carefully put the papers into his case. Minhyun still hasn't mentioned anything about the release papers mainly because he knows that once the release papers are signed, he would have no reason to keep Jonghyun with him, and he wants Jonghyun to be here. With him.

There is no plausible or logical justification or acceptable explanation. Entertainment, challenges, companionship- they all sound so weak and illogical. What it eventually boils down to is that he doesn't really want to explain to anyone what his motives are. He can't really explain how he wants to keep a man who claims he is homeless, a man who is fallen, by his side.

The release could hang in limbo for all eternity. The paper annoys Minhyun because it reduces Jonghyun to nothing more than a liability, a signature on a piece of paper.

Aron pauses at the foot of the stairs. "I forgot to ask. Did you get the release signed?"

"No."

"This is important, Minhyun. You've got to make him sign it. You know how Ahn and other high profile clients will react if they know that Nu'Est Enterprises is embroiled in a lawsuit. Even something as petty as this. Not good for the public image."

Minhyun feels his hand tighten on the newel post. "I'll take care of it."

Minhyun doesn't flinch at the little lie that issues from his mouth. But his fingers twitch to push Aron out to whatever business he needs to do for the company. He takes a step towards the door, hoping that Aron would follow, but his attention is caught by the flash of white near the top of the stairs.

He looks up with a sense of doom.

Jonghyun never looks down. Minhyun watches, stunned, as Jonghyun straddles the banister and slides down the staircase, singing a song about this being better than wings in heaven. He only deigns to look down when he is a few feet from the bottom. He sees Minhyun but all he has time to say is a startled "Uh-oh".

It is the last thing Minhyun hears before Jonghyun sails into him.

"Oof."

Minhyun lies still on the marble floor of the foyer, trying to catch the breath that's been knocked out of him. He blinks, seeing glowing blinking stars in front of his eyes before they solidify into Jonghyun's blurry, surprised face. Minhyun shakes his head to clear it.

Jonghyun lies atop him, his nose just inches away.

Jonghyun's sheepish gaze is peering down at him, his lips turned up in a mischievous grin. "You know." he says, shaking a finger in his face, "I was just thinking about you. Hahat."

"You slid down the banister." Minhyun says in a disbelieving voice.

Jonghyun shrugs. "You said to come down. And quickly, you said."

Minhyun sits upright quickly, holding Jonghyun to him. Jonghyun squeaks and grabs his neck. They share a look, a private look that seems to speak of what happened in the pond yesterday, and an instant later both of them are laughing.

"Well, well, well, Minhyun."

Minhyun freezes for a moment. Then he turns his head to see Aron was leaning against the front door with an all-too-knowing look in his eyes.


	5. I'm lost in a deep winter sleep (I can't seem to find my way out alone)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minhyun struggles at love, not knowing how to behave, falling into every pothole, and boy, are there a lot of those.

It's already one of the longest days Minhyun can remember. After he got rid of Aron with some weak excuse they had both seen through, Minhyun wanted to comfort Jonghyun to make him forget about his past…the only way he knows how is to buy Jonghyun anything he wanted.

So he did the most natural thing - he took Jonghyun to a luxury car dealership. 

Unlike Dongho who loves cars, Jonghyun listlessly looks at low-slung sports cars and comments on how they're "nice" with all the enthusiasm of a wet blanket. Minhyun tries a different tact…he shows him motorcycles at the bike shop that Aron frequents…the sleek Ducati sparks interest but only for a second before Jonghyun ignores everything to look out the showroom window at the falling snow instead.

Minhyun doesn't know what to look at next. He tries Tiffany's as a long shot. Minki loves jewellery, Jonghyun might. The diamonds are pronounced ok, the ruby and onyx cufflinks reduced to "those black and red stones in the thingamajigs" and the pearls…God…Minhyun wonders if he can ever look at pearls again and not picture in his mind the pain he sees in Jonghyun's face.

Jonghyun looks at the pearls as if they are his shame. He then mutters about the gates to Heaven and quietly walks away from everything.

When Jonghyun is not looking, Minhyun buys the " black and red thingamajigs' surreptitiously and asks for them to be delivered to the house.

Two hours later they finally step out from the store, a diamond cuff earring set in platinum in the shape of an angel's wing swinging from Jonghyun's newly pierced left ear. Minhyun knows Jonghyun only selected it out of charity. Minhyun fibbed and told Jonghyun that the clerk had ten children and worked solely on commission.

So Jonghyun chose the dangling earring, saying that at least he had one wing back.

 

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

It's night and they ride in Minhyun's limousine towards the opera house, where the evening's symphony performance is opening the holiday concert season. Minhyun doesn't really enjoy these functions but they are a necessity to his business. It is in these functions where Minhyun actually did most of his interactions.

Normally, Minki, Dongho and Aron accompanied Minhyun, their presence making the work more efficient. But tonight the three are busy with other things so Minhyun planned to go alone. That is…until Jonghyun entered his life.

Jonghyun sits across from him, extraordinarily quiet, but looking like he just stepped out of the pages of GQ. He looks like a model in the black formal Armani tuxedo and fur-lined cape, his normally tousled black hair slicked back and showing the sharp contours of his slim face. The platinum angel wing on the curve of his ear catches the light from the streets.

Minhyun can't understand it but there is a tension in the car which is as thick as gold bars and seems equally impenetrable. He, a businessman who deals with the most difficult men in the business world and intimidates the best of them, cannot seem to deal with this one person named Jonghyun.

Minhyun has a feeling he can't do anything right where Jonghyun is concerned. The day has been nothing but tension. He feels that he has been doing and saying exactly the wrong thing. Which bothers him.

Jonghyun took his breath away when he'd come down the stairs…walking, not sliding via the banister this time. Minhyun complimented him and Jonghyun looked at him like Minhyun was insane and Jonghyun wanted to throw something at him.

Now, as the limousine moves smoothly over the damp icy streets, Jonghyun just stares out the fogged window, oddly silent, the incandescent light in his eyes dim.

"You're still unhappy."

Jonghyun looks at him quietly, then shakes his head. "Not really."

"I don't bloody understand. I've sat here for the last few minutes trying to figure out what the hell is wrong." Minhyun can hear the edge of anger leaking into his carefully controlled words. He thinks to soften his words so he adds, "I meant what I said."

"When?"

"Tonight. When you came downstairs, I told you how you looked."

"Yes." Jonghyun says as he turns back to the window again. "I remember. You said wealth suits me."

From Jonghyun's tone, you'd think Minhyun told him he had a wart on his nose. Minhyun feels so damned awkward. A first in so many years.

All day, no matter what he did, he couldn't do anything to please Jonghyun. It annoys the hell out of him. The fact that he even tried to, and that he even cared, annoys him.

The limousine finally stops at the opera house. Minhyun waits for Mr. Kwon to open the door and steps outside once the driver does so. He silently helps Jonghyun down, and walks by Jonghyun's side, only inches away from him, unconsciously guiding the shorter male.

Just ahead of them, Seoul society crowds outside and on the steps like so many voracious predators seeking prey. The sidewalks and the neighbouring buildings are also teeming with people, out to get a glimpse of the the stars and the famous. Beggars, too, lined the sidewalks, clinging to worn ratty mufflers and rusty tin cans, hoping for a handout.

Jonghyun takes one look at them and stops abruptly, like he instantaneously grows roots. He pulls away from Minhyun's side and walks away from him towards the line of the poor, his face so transparent with intentions and emotions.

"Jonghyun."

Jonghyun ignores him.

He watches, horrified, as Jonghyun unscrews the exorbitantly expensive cuff earring and moves to hand it to an outstretched hand.

"What the hell are you doing?" He hisses out as he grabs Jonghyun's hand.

Jonghyun looks up at him in surprise, then concern. He looks at the beggars then back at Minhyun.

"Someone has to help them." Jonghyun places a hand on Minhyun's arm. He looks at Jonghyun for a very long time.

"No matter how solitary your world is, Minhyun, not everyone is strong enough to make it all alone."

Minhyun knows he's lost.

Jonghyun's voice becomes even smaller. "They could be fallen angels."

Minhyun pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs before he puts a hand into his breastpocket. His voice is more gruff than he likes when he says, "Put the earring back on." He holds out a handful of money.

An instant later he receives a gift worth more than any fortune.

Jonghyun's smile.

 

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

It is the longest night he can remember.

Jonghyun must have met a hundred people like Minhyun. The women stare at him like they want to eat him, offering breathy invitations when Minhyun isn't looking, "accidentally" brushing up against him intimately. The men talk about money and business while a calculated look shines in their eyes as they gauge just how important Jonghyun is to Minhyun. Some even make the same invitations the women offer.

He loses count of the number of people who say "Armani? Exquisite," never meaning a word they say. Jonghyun wonders if Hell is in truth one big soiree with rich people.

And Minhyun. From the moment they walk inside, he keeps Jonghyun close to him, not touching but close enough for the others not to mistake just who is with who. When Minhyun looks at Jonghyun it is with a dark gaze that borders on obsession, as if Jonghyun is something necessary to him, desperately necessary.

Minhyun catches him off guard because when he looks at Jonghyun that way, Jonghyun senses a vulnerability in him that Jonghyun did not see before. Minhyun's gaze would intensify and he would look down at Jonghyun as if he thought Jonghyun might not be there.

It made the night tense and difficult for Jonghyun. He supposes he should be grateful that the long night was cut short by the “accident.” 

There was a harp solo. Jonghyun had twitched once when Minhyun handed him the programme. He could almost predict what was going to happen. And true enough, as Jonghyun sat in Minhyun's private box, his forehead resting on one hand…one by one…every harp string broke. A series of plink! Clink! Plink! Jonghyun had buried his head in his hands in embarrassment. There are some things that are the same whether he is in Heaven or Earth. Either that or God has a strange sense of humor.

Now, over an hour later, he stands once again in the *gold* suite, dressed in Minhyun's silk shirt…the one he loves to sleep in. He looks out the window at a world he doesn't understand. In a moment of unexplained whimsy, he reaches out and draws a heart in the frosted glass. The moment he finishes, he senses that he is no longer alone. Jonghyun turns.

Minhyun stands in the room, half-turned away as he locks the door behind him. He turns back and leans on the doorjamb, crossing his arms. He studies Jonghyun and in his gaze, Jonghyun feels like he isn't going to stop looking for a long time. Minhyun is still in his dress shirt and black pants but his tail coat and white tie are gone, two buttons near his collar undone, exposing his collarbone.

As casual as Minhyun appears standing there, Jonghyun knows that some part of Minhyun wants to intimidate. Jonghyun is slowly learning how to read Minhyun. He feels like Minhyun's constant need to dominate is protection. It's how Minhyun hides his vulnerable side…the side that tries to hold onto Jonghyun because Minhyun is afraid that Jonghyun might leave him. It makes Jonghyun wonder who else has left a younger, more vulnerable Minhyun.

Jonghyun sees the rigidness in Minhyun's jaw, the tension in his shoulders, the pulse beating fast on his neck, the raw, there was no other way to describe it…raw need in Minhyun's shadowed eyes. Jonghyun moves to the bed and sits in the center not knowing exactly why Minhyun is there.

He cocks his head to look into Minhyun's face, velvet brown eyes looking for answers before he asks the question.

Minhyun shoves off from the wall and moves towards him purposefully, graceful like a sleek hunting cat.

"Why do you always look at me that way?"

That stops Minhyun just at the foot of the bed where he looks down at him from his intimidating height, a challenge in his eyes. "What way is that exactly?"

"As if you're hungry."

That startles Minhyun and he gives a quiet, sardonic laugh that says the joke is on him. "It's that obvious? I must be losing my poker face."

Jonghyun doesn't know why but there is a force of some kind between them. It's been there from the first moment Jonghyun saw Minhyun. Now that force is so strong he can feel the pull of it closing in, even the small space that separates them is charged with it.

Minhyun places one knee on top of the mattress, his hand reaching out to cup Jonghyun's cheek, gliding, painfully slow, upwards to slide through Jonghyun's hair, holding Jonghyun's head in his palm. He pulls Jonghyun to him gently…too gently for a man with such power.

With a touch as soft as the brush of snowflake on skin, he kisses Jonghyun. His hands move to Jonghyun's waist and lifts him, then he sits down on the bed, pulling Jonghyun into his lap as he fills Jonghyun's mouth with his tongue and tastes Jonghyun.

It feels like the stars in Heaven are with Jonghyun suddenly in the wealth of emotion that confuses him. Minhyun's fingers trace his jaw and Minhyun pulls his mouth away, only to kiss Jonghyun's face and eyes, his cheek and ears, and finally, the hollow on Jonghyun's neck.

"Let me make you forget the past, Jonghyun. Forget the people who ruined you."

Jonghyun blinks as he cups Minhyun's smooth chin in his hands. "No one ruined me, Minhyun, I ruined myself."

Minhyun's eyes narrows and he runs a thumb over Jonghyun's bottom lip. "You're too generous. It takes two to make anyone into a prostitute."

Stunned, Jonghyun sits back, dropping his hands. "What?"

"I know what happened to you. You cried about it after the accident."

"You think I'm a prostitute?" Jonghyun feels a smile tug at his lips.

Minhyun gives him that penetrating look of his. "You admitted it, Jonghyun. You said you were fallen and ashamed. You won't tell me where you are from. I assumed that's because you've been disowned."

Jonghyun laughs, it's short, but a laugh just the same. Minhyun's dark scowl says he doesn't think it's funny.  
"I'm not a prostitute, I'm a fallen angel."

Minhyun grabs Jonghyun by the shoulders. "Call it what you like, Jonghyun, prostitute, fallen angel. I don't really care. Your past is not my concern."

"No." Jonghyun shakes his head. "I'm really an angel or at least I was one."

One of Minhyun's elegant brows quirk up in skepticism, thinking that Jonghyun is making a joke.

"I'm not kidding you. I had a halo and wings…molting wings but still wings…but I couldn't perform miracles so -"

Jonghyun must be lying, Minhyun thinks, because it's such a ludicrous explanation. Knowing Jonghyun is avoiding his question is a blow to his pride. He tenses and stands up abruptly. "If you aren't interested in me, say so. Don't fuck with my mind with these ridiculous excuses."

"It's the truth."  
"Surely you don't expect me to believe you're an angel?"  
"A fallen angel."

Minhyun crossed his arms in the time-old defensive pose as he leans against one of the wooden bedpost. "Prove it."

"Prove it?" Jonghyun blinks. "But I don't know how…I mean its..." Jonghyun sighs and lifts his chin to look directly at Minhyun. "You tell me how to make you believe me."

"I don't know. You're the heavenly being." His voice drips sarcasm as he wavs his arms in anger, running his hands into his hair roughly as if he means to pull it out. Jonghyun winces in sympathy for Minhyun's hair. "Ask for divine guidance. Make the burning bush appear. Hell…sprout wings and fly around the bloody room."

"Why are you so angry? Jonghyun says quietly, tilting his head to look with confused brown eyes at Minhyun. "I can't help what I am."

"They why are you making up this story? I told you I don't care what you are or even where you've been. But don't," Minhyun pins Jonghyun with a glare, "don't lie to me."

"You won't believe me then."

A little voice inside Minhyun wants to say yes. That Jonghyun, innocent sweet Jonghyun could never lie to him. But the logical part of his brain, the part which has governed his whole life, objects. The notion is just too preposterous.

"You tell me you're an angel and then expect me to believe you? God, that's rich!"

Jonghyun gives him a look, that look - the one that makes his luminous brown eyes dim. It conveys more than any words from Jonghyun can ever say just how disappointed he is with Minhyun. How Minhyun has just let Jonghyun down. "I'm not surprised you'd use such a phrase."

He freezes. "What's wrong with it?"  
"Do you really want me to answer that? Honestly?"  
"You're the angel." Minhyun can hear the cruelty in the laugh that he just gave then, knows it is unfair but he can't help it. "You tell me."

"Ok. You want the truth? I'll give you the truth. The painful truth." Jonghyun's shoulders square themselves as he continues. "You think *only* in terms of money. Everything is money with you. And power. What did you do when you wanted me to get into the car? You offered me money. You try to buy everything. Everyone."

Minhyun stands there, just watching Jonghyun, listening to Jonghyun tell him things he normally wouldn't give a shit over if it came from someone else. But from Jonghyun…he doesn't care to listen to it at all.

"You can't even give a compliment without mentioning your power and wealth. Did you say 'Jonghyun, you look good in that suit'? No. You said 'Wealth suits you.'"

Jonghyun makes him sound incredibly arrogant.

"Don't you know there are more important things than fortunes or money or power?"

He stands stiffly silent, shaking just a little with anger. /How dare you judge who I am, what I am./

But he knows that Jonghyun is sincerely telling the truth like it is and he is only rationalising his actions. But his actions, like so many things in his life, are weak handholds in the rockslide that was truth.

/Leave me a little of myself left./

"Is it truly that hard for you to understand? You shouldn't expect people to be lower than you just because they don't have your money. They're still people, Minhyun, and they, like you, should be respected. Even the most ragged and beggarly person in Seoul is still a human being. Can't you find it in your heart to help them, even just one of them, all on your own?"

Still Minhyun stays silent, fighting himself just as much as he is fighting Jonghyun, his jaws are ground so tightly shut it hurts. his face is a neutral mask, his expressions shuttered. Jonghyun doesn't notice, too engross in his own tirade. 

"Just look at your house."  
"What's wrong with my house?"  
"You collect things."  
"You make it sound like a criminal act. I assure you a lot of people do it."  
"Not criminal, no." Jonghyun shakes his head. "Sad." He sweeps a hand to encompass the room. "Look at this room."

Minhyun gives it a cursory glance. There is nothing wrong with the room that he could see. It is, if truth be told, the best that his money can buy. "Yes?"

"It's filled with collections. Priceless objects d'art, Persian rugs, Chippendale furniture…but nothing alive. And the color."

"What about the color?"

"Everything is gold, Minhyun. As if gold is the most important thing in the whole world. This is not a home a person lives in, this is a shrine to the almighty dollar!"

Minhyun doesn't even look at the room. He looks at Jonghyun. "You criticise my house because I don't believe that you're an angel?"

"No. You don't understand."  
"You're the angel. Work a miracle and make me understand."

Jonghyun begins to pace the room, a bundle of nervous energy. As he passes the bedpost, he suddenly stops and grabs onto it like a lifeline as he looks at Minhyun again. "It's Christmas. What's the first thought that comes into your mind when I say the word *Christmas*?"

/Tipping./ The thought immediately springs to his mind but Minhyun would no sooner be dragged across Hell and back before he'll admit it.

"A-HA! Jonghyun catches him mid-thought. "You thought of money just then."

"You're guessing."

"I'm sure! The materialistic gleam in your eyes is too hard to miss. Which just proves my point. Nowhere in this house is there a sign of Christmas. No tree, no mistletoe, no stockings…no nothing! And what about your servants?"

A headache is starting to throb between Minhyun's eyes at Jonghyun's mercurial changes in topic. He rubs the bridge of his nose where the throbbing seems to have taken up residence. "What about them?"

"Did you give them a special holiday to be with their loved ones?"

"Not everyone in Seoul is Christian. And even if some of my servants are, they'll be more than amply compensated."

"Money again." Jonghyun walks over to him and places his hands on Minhyun's chest, looking up at Minhyun as if he expects Minhyun to be something he isn't…something he can't…or doesn't want to understand. Jonghyun must have read that in his shuttered eyes. "Can't you understand? Can't you at least try?"

The velvet brown eyes are pleading, soft like melted chocolate and no less sweet. When Jonghyun looks at him that way, he almost thinks he can be different from what he is. But he doesn't know if he can give Jonghyun what Jonghyun wants, what Jonghyun is asking. Because it scares the hell out of him.

Minhyun's gaze moves to Jonghyun's mouth, because he has to look at Jonghyun. His look wanders slowly down the silk shirt and to legs that peep out beneath them. His anger turns to want. The need, the obsession that seems to want to consume him since the night they first met when Jonghyun had caught him looking, returns in full force.

He wants Jonghyun but his pride reminds him that for all his life he had everything on his own terms. He always made the rules.

"Please don't look at me like that."  
"Why not? I paid for the privilege."

Jonghyun flinches and backs away from him with a betrayed look in his eyes. Minhyun stands unflinching and unmoving. Part of him wants to take the words back but another part of him, the part that seethes with the anger, rejection and pride, does not allow him to move or speak.

Everything is mixed up in his head…and in his heart.

Jonghyun has his hands raised as if to fend Minhyun off, the expression on his face unchanged, and he is muttering something under his breath, almost unconsciously. "I can't do this." Jonghyun shakes his head. "I can't."

Jonghyun looks ready to bolt and Minhyun's heart seems to stop beating for a second with those words. He grabs Jonghyun's wrist then, staring at it in surprise as if he can't believe he just did it. Then in a strained voice he says, "Don't leave, Jonghyun."

Jonghyun watches Minhyun for a long time, his eyes searching Minhyun's face for answers. "Minhyun," Jonghyun says, "What is it? What are you so afraid of?"

Minhyun doesn't even blink. He holds on to Jonghyun's wrist like he is on the angry sea and Jonghyun's wrist is his only lifeline. "Promise me. You won't leave like you did before."

"Why?"

That one word seems like an electric jolt as Minhyun let Jonghyun's wrist fall from his hands like it is a burning brand. He turns away, a feeling of vulnerability that's so foreign a feeling for him, makes him feel naked before Jonghyun's eyes. He doesn't turn back, he leaves Jonghyun standing there.

He needs to think and he can't do it with Jonghyun standing there and looking at him like that. He crosses the room briskly and opens the door, agitation in every line of his tense, stiff body.

"Minhyun?" Jonghyun's voice is so soft Minhyun isn't certain he's heard it. He stills, hand unmoving on the doorknob, waiting for Jonghyun's response as he takes a deep breath. "I'll stay."

His deathgrip on the doorknob loosens and he almost buckles as his legs feel nerveless with relief. He nods once because he is unable find his voice, and leaves, closing the door behind him.

Once the door quietly shuts, he let his tight control on his emotions go. He leans against the wall for a moment, relief flooding through him like a roaring tidal wave. In that moment, an insane thought flashes through his head. Perhaps Jonghyun really *was* an angel.

 

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Jonghyun stands at the window and watches the limo Minhyun always uses pull away from the house. He's left later this morning than he normally does. 

As soon as the limo disappears around the bend, Jonghyun throws on a brown leather trenchcoat and belts it on. He rushes to the door when he does a sudden about face, snapping his fingers as if he just remembered something. 

He runs back and grabs a small pouch that is sitting on the chair, then slowly sneaks back to the door where he listens for awhile to make certain no one is in the hallway. He slowly opens the door, just a crack, and peers out. He creeps stealthily out of the bedroom and hurries to the smaller stairway near the gallery and looks down.

The foyer is empty.

Jonghyun exhales a sigh of relief and straddles the banister, sliding down as silent and quiet as a cat, landing perfectly on the foyer with a small flourish. A minute later he is running down the steps and away from the house.

He never looks back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GG, Min, GG. Tip, don't bring up prostitution when you're in the middle of a makeout session. It doesn't help. Nor does bringing up money. 
> 
> I've had to up the rating to mature. :D Chapter 6 will have an embarrassing, overly romantic, overly cheesy smut. Consider yourselves warned.
> 
> I haven't written anything this long in ages. oTL The cheesiness helps motivate me, eventhough it ends up so cringe-y that I have to stop at intervals haha. Thank you for staying with me through this long fic.
> 
> I wish OT5 can see each other this chuseok. My 2hyun heart needs interactions of my favorite people. :(
> 
> In other news, how excited are we all for OT4 CB? :D :D


	6. What I've dreamed of, what I've hoped for (I want to confess that it's always been you)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a lazy day of Christmas shopping~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just a small chapter for today, folks, all fluff, nothing else. I thought it was best to cut the chapter short because it was too long (of course it's not because the smut is hard to write and I keep running around in embarrassment, nope, of course not.)
> 
> I'll be extending the fic to another chapter instead. I am sorry D:

Minhyun stands at his office window and watches the traffic on the street below, ignoring the fact that Dongho, Minki and Aron has opted to make themselves at home in his office instead of their own. He looks like he is waiting for something.

Dongho, whose been with him the longest, actually notices Minhyun's distracted demeanour. “Minhyun-ah~ are you alright? You've been staring out that window for awhile now?”

Before Minhyun could think of a sharp reply, he sees a young boy in the classic messenger blue and white streak through the streets with a smile. 

“What 's interesting down there?” Dongho says, scanning the streets curiously for what it might be. Minhyun doesn't even deign to answer the nosy question. He sits down to wait until finally the messenger bursts into the room, cheeks red with exertion and panting.

"I went as fast as I could, Mr. Hwang." The boy gasps out. "I spoke to your butler, and he said to tell you that Mr. Jonghyun is still asleep."

Three sets of eyes turn Minhyun's way in curiosity but Minhyun doesn't notice because he closes his eyes and sags back into his chair. The tension that's been building inside him all morning draining away at the message. He turns towards the boy, handing him the payment for the message with a twenty dollar bill tip.

"Thank you Sir!" The boy told him and turned to leave,

"Seojun?"

The boy pauses and turns back. "Sir?"

"Where's your family?"

Seojun's eyes grow large as saucers, his incredulity evident in the slack- jawed look on his face. This astonishment is mirrored in the faces of the other Nu'Est Enterprises members.

Minki's eyes look almost as large as the boy's and he's gaping at Aron in surprise, tugging at the lawyer's sleeve.

“I..in Busan, Sir.”

"I see." And with that, Minhyun falls to silence. Minutes pass and the messenger is shifting from foot to foot by now feeling like he has been forgotten. He cleared his throat. "Is that all, Sir?"

"Yes." Minhyun says, turning to face the boy again, reaching into his breast pocket for his wallet and pulling out a couple of hundred bills. He stares at them for a moment before he looks at Seojun and says, "Take off the two days before Christmas and spend them with your family."

"But sir-"

"With pay. I have decided to give everyone in Nu'Est Enterprises the two days off. Christian or not. I will be sending a memo to announce this in a few minutes."

Seojun can't believe his good fortune. He grins at Minhyun. "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"

Minhyun watches the door close, then hears a loud whoop echo down the hallway. His lips twitch a little as he sits back down into his chair. The room is strangely silent he notices, not even the perpetual rustling noises of Aron handling paper is heard. He looks up to find the others staring at him.

"What?"

“I've never seen you notice the hired help before let alone ask about anyone's family.” Minki tells him, still recovering from the shock.

“And two days company holiday? Christmas, yes, since that's an official holiday but the 24th as well?” Dongho asks. “Didn't you say it was one of the best times to capitalise on other people's silly sentimentality?”

“I suppose you have something to add, Aron hyung?” Minhyun says dryly. “You might as well, seeing how everyone seems to be adding their opinion into this impromptu meeting.”

Aron shakes his head, waving his hand in negation. “Nah, I'm good.”

"Good. We've still got a lot of work to do." Minhyun tells them before turning back to his own computer.

And as one, the three other Nu'Est Enterprises members go back to their work, two questions unanswered. 

"On second thought, finish up all your work in thirty minutes. We are going out."

"Huh? I don't have anything in my schedule?" Dongho says, looking up from his phone call.

“I have a meeting at 3 PM to go to, Minhyun, how important is it?” Aron grumbles.

“Where ARE we going now?”

"To the European Christmas Market."

No one even blinks. With everything that's been happening, somehow it doesn't seem surprising anymore.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

From his perch up in heaven's cloud, a tall angel is almost bouncing in delight.

"He's doing it, Youngmin hyung! Sungwoon hyung!"

"Hn." The guardian angel grunts, giving the bespectacled man on Earth a considering stare.

"Don't celebrate yet, Hyunbin. It's a bit too soon. Anything can happen."

"Yes but…"

"I don't really care what else happens, just as long as that miscreant does not hurt Jonghyun." Youngmin says protectively, arms crossing defensively as he looks at the financier warily.

“I just know that Jonghyun hyung will be able to return to Heaven in no time.” Hyunbin insists.

“I don't doubt it, Hyunbin.” Sungwoon says affectionately. He looks down on Earth, remembering the unusual light in Jonghyun's eyes as he looks at Minhyun, how the younger ex-angel blushes when Minhyun is near.   
/The question is, will he want to go back?/ 

His smile turns a little grim.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Minhyun strolls through the marketplace where Christmas greens are piled like cordwood along the walks and twines up awning posts and around storefront windows. There are small booths festooned with more of the Christmas wreaths and leaves that make them look like arbors. The whole place smells of fresh greenery.

"Can we go now? My arms are getting tired." Minki sighs from behind Minhyun. Minki's beautifully coifed locks are now windblown. He is unable to fix it because he is laden with Christmas wreaths and whatnots in baskets.

"At least you're not *wearing* them." Aron says dryly. Three ropes of greenery hangs from around his neck just as he wrestles with a whole pile of hollies, mistletoes and rolls of ribbon. "I am not enjoying this one bit. Where is Dongho anyway? Isn't he suppose to be helping too?"

"He's the one hunting down a tree." Minhyun reminds Aron. Even the financier is loaded down with other Christmas ornaments and greenery. "Dongho is the only one who even knows what kind of tree would be more appropriate."

"And just who told you that?" Minki says suspiciously.

"Dongho did."

"And you believe him?" Aron says. "It's probably just an excuse to get out of helping us carry these.”

"No I didn't believe him. But someone has to go look for a tree. And I don't see anyone else volunteering."

"Can we just put this into the limo?" Minki interjects, changing the topic. “I need to get going on that meeting soon.”

Minhyun knows that as soon as he lets them go, he would not see them again until the next day. “I think we have everything we need so you can go if you're that keen to continue.”

Faster than two shakes of a donkey's tail, the two are off before Minhyun can change his mind. He shakes his head a little in amusement before he starts walking along the stalls. He walks along, breathing the pungent clean scent of pine trees and trying to picture Jonghyun's face.

It isn't difficult because Jonghyun is standing just a few feet away.

He is bent over a little girl who is looking at Jonghyun with serious, wide, innocent eyes. The girl is holding a tin whistle in one hand and a brass bell on the other.

Minhyun moves closer to listen.

"Yes, Somi, it's true." Jonghyun says animatedly, "Didn't you know that?"

The little girl shakes her head.

"I have a little rhyme to help you remember. Do you want to hear it?"

Somi nods.

Jonghyun squats down then until his brown eyes are level with the little girl's black ones, "Every time a whistle sounds, an angel falls to the ground." Jonghyun pauses, an exaggerated frown on his face as he shakes his head dramatically.

The little girl giggles.

"And every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings." Jonghyun smiles and nods vigorously.

Somi looks at the whistle and then at the bell before the girl puts the whistle down and runs off to tell her mother that she wants the bell instead. Personally, Minhyun thinks he would have done the same thing after seeing how happy it made Jonghyun.

Jonghyun straightens up, then bends down again to pick up a basket of greenery. Smiling at the retreating form of the little girl with her mother, he turns…and freezes the moment he sees Minhyun.

Minhyun doesn't move. "I thought you were still asleep."

"I thought you were still in your office."

Nothing else is said. The scene from the night before is still too fresh in their memories, too sensitive…it makes this moment awkward and tense.

The moment is broken when Jonghyun peers down at what Minhyun is holding, perusing the contents of his baskets. "Shopping?"

Minhyun glances down, then shrugs. "Yes."

Jonghyun holds up his own basket with a little smile. "Looks like we had the same idea."

With what? Minhyun remembers he hasn't given Jonghyun any money at all. He feels stupid. Another first for Minhyun.

He wants to ask Jonghyun how he paid for all his purchases but after the lecture Jonghyun gave him the night before he doesn't know how to say it. He eyes Jonghyun's basket for a moment, then says it anyway, "I'm not certain how to say this, especially after last night, but I have neglected to give you any money."

Jonghyun flushes and looks everywhere bit at him for long minutes. Minhyun just stands there and waits for the answer. Finally, Jonghyun sighs and tells Minhyun. "I pawned the earring." He says, turning his head to the side to show Minhyun an ear devoid of the of the only accessory that Jonghyun had shown interest in at Tiffany's.

"Your angel wing?"

Jonghyun nods. 

"Where's the pawnshop?"

Jonghyun points. "Down the street a few blocks down."

"Come on." Minhyun heads down the street, Jonghyun by his side.

"You should have pawned the cufflinks."  
"I couldn't do that."  
"Why the hell not?"  
"Because they don't mean as much as the earring does."

Minhyun stops and looks at Jonghyun. "That makes sense."

Jonghyun gives him a small smile.

"It shouldn't make sense. Don't ask me why but for some illogical reason it does." He turns and grabs Jonghyun's wrist, pulling Jonghyun down the street.

Half an hour later they stand beneath the sleek electrical sign that hung above Serizawa's Pawnshop and Minhyun is placing the diamond earring back onto Jonghyun's ear. Jonghyun touches the earring when Minhyun finishes, a lambent look in brown eyes. 

"Thank you."

Uncomfortable, Minhyun adjusts his glasses and looks away. "I sent Dongho to buy a tree."

Jonghyun's smile is bright enough to melt the snow.

Two hours later, the limousine leaves the market, the back seat filled with baskets of Christmas decorations, greenery and mistletoes. Jonghyun is nestled in the middle holding a cornhusk doll in the shape of an angel.

"Isn't it just wonderful?" He says, admiring the doll.

Minhyun looks at Jonghyun. Only at Jonghyun. "Yes. Wonderful."

Jonghyun looks up then and sees something out the window that catches his eye. In a flash, he plasters his face on the window near him. Minhyun turns just as they passed a German bakery, its windows filled with a fairyland of gingerbread castles.

Minhyun opens the intercom. "Stop here, Mr. Kwon."

When the limo stops, Minhyun gracefully gets out. He is about to help Jonghyun out but the enthusiastic man is faster than he is. Jonghyun is out of the car and heading straight for the window display like a bee to honey.

The window display is lit by decorative lights, its glass frosted with pseudo-snow. Intricate castles and houses that had snow icing on the roofs are strewn on a snowy landscape. Gingerbread soldiers in full uniform ride horses with trappings and manes of sugary white. There are gingerbread ladies and children, too, laced with marzipan; animals and dolls…

Three gingerbread men later, Minhyun and Jonghyun leave the bakery and Jonghyun hands Mr. Kim a cookie shaped like a Christmas wreath. Jonghyun seems to think of of someone else before himself. He doesn't want wealth or things. He wants so little. Minhyun wonders if Jonghyun has ever wanted anything just for himself.

Then Jonghyun sees the puppies. Small ,light brown canine heads with floppy ears, wagging tongues and bright red bows tied around their necks poking out of a street vendor's basket. Minhyun doesn't even get the chance to blink as Jonghyun rushes towards the puppies, making small sounds of delight, like Dongho rushing to Ferrari.

"Minhyun, look!"

He looks. But not at the puppies who are licking Jonghyun's chin and cheeks. Nor the kittens and the rabbits as Jonghyun moves from one basket to another. He looks at the joy on Jonghyun's face and wishes, irrationally, that he could give Jonghyun that kind of happiness for every single day of his life.

Jonghyun who prefers puppies to sports cars, kittens to jewelry, rabbits to…

He looks down at Jonghyun and scowls. "No rabbits, Jonghyun. Puppies…yes and kittens too. But no rabbits."


	7. Maybe you‘ll always breath in me (ever in my heart)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When two bodies collide, a miracle is born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...  
> 1\. This was not suppose to come out until later mainly because I wanted to concentrate on getting Nu'Est W their comeback win! Let's all try and do this, Loves!! [LOVE TIME WIN](https://lovetimenuest.wordpress.com/) has all the info you need to help our boys get a win :)
> 
> 2\. This came out because I wanted to gift my hardworking friends who've been streaming and motivating people nonstop on twitter. They deserve much more than this cheesy smut scene and cheesy love story lol but this is all I can give ;) Cey, Zoe, Grace, y'all rock.
> 
> 3\. I am sorry for my sucky plotline and Minhyun's underlying reason for being such an unresponsive rock. I'm not great at plot development oTL Please forgive my plotholes.
> 
> 4\. I rolled through endless amounts of shame to go through this smut. It's not great but it is romance paperback-ish haha So it's "soft" smut. Be warned. You will be embarrassed. (I'm already embarrassed.)
> 
>  
> 
> Lastly, please stream for the boys. Nu'Est W WIN! PLEASE :D Thank you~

The rabbits are chewing on Minhyun's shoes.

Jonghyun sits on a chair in the open parlour, his lap full of wiggling puppies while purring kittens crawls on the arms and wings of the chair, scratching the fabric as kittens do. Jonghyun is stringing popcorn and smiling at Minhyun. Minhyun is on his hands and knees in front of a brass bucket filled with sand, muttering and turning the trunk of the Christmas tree. It is his third attempt to get the tree straight.

"It looks fine to me." Jonghyun tells Minhyun.

He backs out, scowling at the two gray rabbits for a moment before he shifts away, eyeing the angle of the tree. "A little more to the right."

Jonghyun rolls his eyes and ties a knot in the string of popcorn.

Dongho snickers. "You have to understand Minhyun, Jonghyun. He's meticulous about these things."

"Single minded." Aron adds, he's focusing so much on his own string of popcorn that he doesn't realise his tongue is sticking out like a little boy.

"Obsessive compulsive." Minki chimes in in a singsong voice. Minki doesn't want to admit it but he is enjoying making decorations. It's been a long time since the four of them have spent so much time together and Jonghyun's enthusiasm is infectious.

"See?" Dongho laughs.

"Shut up." Minhyun glowers as he sits down near Jonghyun and starts his own string of popcorn.

The formal parlor is a mess. A huge bowl of popcorn is sitting in the center of the Savonnerie carpet, a trail of plump kernels lead to the tree where rabbits nibble at some of them.

Scraps of tinsel and string are scattered by tumbling puppies and playful kittens until the center of the room where settees formed a conversation area, looks like the aftermath of New Year's Eve in Times Square.

Minhyun tries to call the servants to help them with the decorations just to keep the whole house looking more like his house and not a disaster area but Jonghyun says firmly that they have to be the ones to do the decorations or it would not be fun at all.

The entire lower floor of the mansion is filled with the scent of Christmas. By the time the grandfather clock strikes eleven, the tree is decorated and greenery hangs throughout the front of the house. Tied with red ribbons, cedar and laurel, pine and holly hangs from pictures and mirrors and wraps around the bases of the candelabra. Mistletoes hang hidden in doorways and other unsuspected places thanks to the mischievous Dongho.

Tinsel glints silver on everything.

The rabbits, puppies and kittens are tucked into their baskets under the tree, exhausted after an evening of chasing strings and popcorn as well as Minhyun's shoes.

"NOW, it looks like Christmas." Jonghyun says, putting his hands on his hips and smiling in satisfaction on their handiwork.

"I can't believe we did all this!" Dongho says tiredly as he looks around the house.

"Me neither." Minki chimes in. "I'm going to home to hibernate now. It'll take a century for my skin to recover from all this stress!" Aron just slumps on Minki's shoulders, giving everyone a small wave as Minki drags him out the door with him, Dongho trailing behind.

"Good night, everyone!" Jonghyun calls after them. "And thank you!" When the three disappears through the front door, Jonghyun turns to ask Minhyun. "How about you, Minhyun, aren't you…" He turns just in time to catch the look on Minhyun's face.

Minhyun is standing next to tree, silently looking at it. His expression is naked and open and filled with such desolation in that one brief instant that Jonghyun is unable to breath. Jonghyun strides across the room, reaching out and touching Minhyun's arm. Because somehow he knows he needs to, because somehow he senses that Minhyun wants the physical contact as he relives some memory.

"Minhyun." Jonghyun whispers.

Minhyun doesn't respond, doesn't even move for a good long while. Finally he looks at Jonghyun as if he just realised that Jonghyun is beside him.

Brown eyes that seem to carry the universe searches Minhyun's face for answers and sees nothing but a shuttered look, an impassive expression. There is something in those depths that hide a deep pain, a personal fear and dark emotions that's been kept inside for so long.

"What's wrong?"

Minhyun adjusts his glasses and runs his hands through his hair, idiosyncrasies that Jonghyun is learning to recognise with increasing familiarity. He can almost sense the tightness around Minhyun's eyes before Minhyun's face settles on the neutral expression he always shows the world. Jonghyun knows that it must have taken inhuman effort, over the years, for Minhyun to learn to hide his emotions from the world.

"I haven't had a Christmas tree since I was eight." He doesn't look at Jonghyun, his gaze lingering on the tree.

Jonghyun suddenly experiences a horrid sinking feeling of realisation. "Do you want to get rid of it?"

"No." Minhyun responds in a clipped voice as he shakes his head. "It's not the tree. I never had the time for one. I was always working too hard, and then when I did have time…" He shrugs. "It didn't matter anymore."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jonghyun ventures, peering up at Minhyun in concern.

"No." Minhyun laughs without humour.

"I think perhaps you should."

Minhyun leans his hip on the edge of a nearby table and crosses his arms. "Why?"

This, Jonghyun knows, is Minhyun in his stubborn mode but Jonghyun can be just as stubborn as Minhyun can be. He mimics him, crossing his arms and jutting out his chin. "You tell me."

Instead of answering Jonghyun, Minhyun turns and strides into the library. Jonghyun follows behind him determinedly, lagging behind just a little, Jonghyun muttering about “legs like tree trunks”. Minhyun stops just near the fireplace where a fire is guttering dangerously low because of the hour of the night and Jonghyun nearly runs into him because of his hurry to catch up.

The fireplace isn't really there for practical purposes. The mansion has a central heating system, it's sole purpose is to provide ambience. Minhyun stares at it, a play of shadows dancing on his face from the flickering flames, the fiery orange and red throws brilliant reflections on his glasses, obscuring any expression.

"My family was one of the most distinguished families in Seoul, respectable and rich, used to power. I've always been used to money. What you said the other night made me think about what I am, Jonghyun. Why I am. Whether I have put money and power before anything else in my life." He turns to look at Jonghyun. "I think its true."

"My father was a very hard taskmaster, always demanding the best out of everyone around him, especially his only son and heir. I had to be the perfect son. I did everything he ever wanted. At the age of seven I went with him to his office to learn how everything worked.

He was proud of me for awhile until I started to have different opinions. He was horrified that I, who is younger than he is, actually dared to propose different methods. My father was... a very conventional man, it was always his way or the highway.”

Minhyun's mouth twists into a grim parody of a grin. “I was very confident about my ideas. At that time, I always thought that even though my father never expressed his love, I felt sure that he would always support me no matter what I did. So I set out to prove my ideas to him, behind his back.”

Minhyun is so focused on his story that there is a faraway tone in his voice and his eyes seem to look beyond what is in front of him. Jonghyun comes nearer, quietly, softly, so as not to interrupt Minhyun, stopping only once he is near the taller man, near enough to feel the warmth radiating from Minhyun's body. He does not say anything, as he listens intently to Minhyun's story.

“My father...did not appreciate my initiative. He didn't want a son, he wanted a carbon copy of himself. I didn't oblige. He disowned me, cut me off and made my cousin his heir. He threw me out of the house with nothing but my clothes on and a few hundred dollar bills. My mother never said a word, scared of my father doing the same to her, scared of being outcast from the society she moved in. She never gave a thought for the little boy who wandered the dangerous streets alone.

I was eleven then and it had been Christmas if I remember… my childhood officially ended that day. I changed my family name and did everything to survive, used my powers to my advantage just so I could eventually take revenge in the only way I knew how. I had to prove to my parents that I could make it out alone and grow to even greater power than they had.

I thought if I did, they would take me back and acknowledge that I was their son."

Minhyun looked around the room, his gaze stopping on each priceless piece of art that adorned the walls. "Over the years I learned to distinguish those people who were like me, different from the rest and burning with the same drive. Dongho, Aron and Minki…together, as Nu'Est Enterprises, we were able to achieve what you see now.

I revealed myself to my family when I finally had amassed more wealth than they could have dreamed of, thinking they'd welcome me with open arms." Minhyun stopped and stared at the fire again. Minutes dragged by.

"And then?" Jonghyun prods.

Minhyun barks a sharp laugh. "I couldn't have been more wrong. They told me they had no son with my name and then told me to leave," Minhyun smiles a bitter smile. "I stole my ex-father's company through a take-over a month after that."

"After that there was nothing left but my work and the power…At least that affirmed my existence. There's an elusive sense of pleasure to be had in knowing that I have enough power to force people to acknowledge me."

"I realised this morning how skewed my perception on life is."

Jonghyun looks at Minhyun who doesn't lift his eyes from his fixation with the fire.

"Strange. It still hurts to remember it." He whispers, almost to himself.

"Minhyun, I'm sorry I said those things."  
"Don't be. They needed to be said."

Jonghyun stands there, feeling awkward because he can feel the pain radiating from Minhyun and Jonghyun wants to run to him to comfort him, but Jonghyun is afraid.

"Can we start over? No challenges, no bets, no deals. And no questions. You can stay here as long as you want to, Jonghyun."

Jonghyun doesn't know what to tell him.

"Will you stay?"

Every person Minhyun ever cared about left him in one way or another except for Nu'Est Enterprises. And even them he could not fully bond with, each had his own tragic past to get over first. Jonghyun understands how that is. Jonghyun understands him.

Jonghyun can't leave Minhyun. Not now. Not when he is so confused and fast feeling as if Minhyun is a part of him. Deep inside he doesn't want to leave Minhyun.

Jonghyun looks up at the taller man, gaze locking unto the other as he nods with a small smile. "I'll stay."

There is a minute flash of relief in Minhyun's eyes as he gives Jonghyun a slow and lazy smile that makes Jonghyun draw in his breath with the wonder of it. So much that it barely registers on him when Minhyun looks pointedly above him.

Jonghyun follows Minhyun's gaze to where a giant ball of mistletoe is hanging from the crystal chandelier directly above him, courtesy of Minki. It only takes two steps from Minhyun's long, long legs to close the distance between them. He lowers his mouth to Jonghyun's and kisses him softly, tenderly.

Jonghyun instinctively slides his hands around Minhyun's neck and returns his kiss, inexperienced lips hesitant and awkward, but it is enough. Minhyun groans and his arms hold Jonghyun tightly as he lifts the younger man to him. The kiss seems to last forever and at the same time not long enough. Minhyun pulls back with Jonghyun against his chest as he rests his chin on Jonghyun's head. Ensconced in Minhyun's warm arms, Jonghyun feels the warmth emanating from Minhyun's body and the clear sounds of the other's heartbeat.

"Whenever I kiss you, it's the strangest thing. I swear I can hear bells."

Jonghyun smiles into his silk shirt. "Maybe you should kiss me more often."

Minhyun chuckles and pulls Jonghyun in for another long kiss. Jonghyun hugs him tight.

"Perhaps you should go to bed before I do and then can't stop." He releases Jonghyun and steps back, a gentle, warm look in his eyes only for Jonghyun.

Jonghyun is loathed to go, wanting to stay, even for a moment longer in the warmth Minhyun offers but obediently goes up the staircase, his lips wreathed in a gentle smile. He feels Minhyun's gaze warm him all the way to the top, where he stops to pause and turn at the landing, "Minhyun-ah~ You know what they say about bells. Every time a bell rings-"

Minhyun smiles and finishes the phrase for him, "An angel gets its wings."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The next two days are theirs alone.

They go to the park and skates again. Well, that isn't exactly true. Minhyun skates. Jonghyun falls. A lot.

They join the throng of shoppers in the downtown malls. With hundreds of others, they watch as a huge Christmas tree lights up with a thousand Christmas lights as it's rolled into the hospital's Childrens' Ward. Every branch of the tree is laden with gifts for the patients, compliments of Nu'Est Enterprises.

But the best Christmas present Jonghyun receives comes in the form of laughter when that night, Jonghyun meets Minhyun at the top of the stairs. "Go on ahead to dinner. Dongho and the others will be waiting. I'll just be a minute, I forgot something upstairs."

Jonghyun walks down the stairs humming "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", a kitten tugging at his pant's leg and two puppies yapping in his arms. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he hears a very loud whoop.

An instant later, Minhyun slides down the banister, off the newel post, and sails into the foyer just as Mr. Kim opens the front door. Which, Minhyun sails through, bouncing down the icy marble steps until something on the pavement finally stops him.

His business associate, and part of the company's Board, Mr. Ahn.

Dongho's very amused, very inappropriate laughter echoes in the hallway, interspersing with Jonghyun's, even as Aron rushes down to help the poor man, mumbling abject apologies.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"I'm not certain I'll ever be able to sit again," Minhyun winces as he crosses the library and hands Mr. Ahn a drink.

Mr. Ahn looks unamused but he inclines his head as he takes the drink. "You weren't at the Chungs' dinner party last night.

Minhyun took a sip of the Merlot he had poured for himself. "No."

"Hyundai executives were there."

"I'll call and set up a meeting with them sometime next week."

"I've never known you to miss an opportunity like this. That group has a fortune to invest."

Minhyun doesn't respond.

"Kwak told me about the boy you almost ran over. That's him with Choi?"

Minhyun nods.

"Have you gotten that release signed?" The look Ahn gives him speaks volumes.

"I told Aron I'd take care of it and I will."

"Tell me something." Ahn says, lighting a tobacco.

"Hmmn?" Minhyun says noncommittally.

"What is he to you?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
"You damn well know what I mean, Hwang."  
"That's my business, Ahn. Stay out of it"  
"I've never seen you act this way about anyone."

"He's different. Leave it at that." Minhyun tells Ahn. He's known since the night he took Jonghyun to the opera house. Jonghyun looked perfect but he'd been too quiet and out of place in the crowd - like a precious gem suddenly thrown into a pit of coal. Jonghyun lost his luster. Minhyun feels some odd need to protect the other man from anything that will and can hurt him, anything that would steal Jonghyun's laughter.

Ahn gets up with a heavy sigh as he sets his glass down. "I'm not here to pass judgement. I'm just concerned. I am your business associate after all."

"Don't be. I can handle this."  
"Will I see you at the Lee's soiree?"  
Minhyun shook his head. "I won't be present at any function until after Christmas."

Ahn pauses at Minhyun's words, his hand on the door. "You cannot be a hermit and hope to keep this company afloat. I hope you know what you're doing."

"I'm fine. Everything will be fine." Minhyun says in clipped tones, but he isn't certain if he is talking to Ahn or to himself.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Minhyun hears a a grandfather clock down the hall strike two but Minhyun does not move or breath from where he stands. He is looking at Jonghyun who is standing in a pool of light from the bedroom window, the moon shining down on his golden form, infusing his skin with a silver light…it gives Jonghyun a fragile, ethereal cast, like the angel he claims to be.

"You can't sleep either." Minhyun ventures.

Jonghyun shakes his head. "No." 

Jonghyun hasn't turned to look at him but there is no surprise in Jonghyun's quiet tone, like Jonghyun knows all along that he's been there. It does not surprise him. There's just something between them, an invisible link that binds them together. Whenever he is near Jonghyun, he can feel it, like something alive, this acute awareness that Jonghyun is the other part of him, a part that was lost, that part that made him feel incomplete for most of his life, until he found Jonghyun.

Minhyun crosses the room and stands behind Jonghyun. And as if instinctively, Jonghyun leans into his warmth, a small gesture of acceptance that wraps around Minhyun, telling him this is right where he wants to be, where he belongs. When Jonghyun looks up at him, Minhyun cannot help but sweep the fringe that slides to cover a part of Jonghyun's eyes. It seems only natural to then cup Jonghyun's cheek in his palm, his fingers stroking Jonghyun's soft golden skin, noting Jonghyun's fragility that hides a quiet strength.

He trails a finger down Jonghyun's cheek and caresses Jonghyun's jaw, tilting his head up. Minhyun has never, in his entire life, touched anyone this way before, never ran fingers across anyone's features, memorising them with his hand. With Jonghyun though, it is a sensory need he has to fill.

Always it seems like Jonghyun is the one who brings forth emotions he doesn't know he could feel. 

His mouth touches Jonghyun's once, the barest of touches, like the brush of an angel's wing. Innocent and pure, until moments later. Their kisses change, driven by a wanton need. They become deep and drugging…addicting, a necessity - like breathing air. He desires Jonghyun's taste, the same way he craves Jonghyun's scent, the sound of Jonghyun's voice, the brightness of his smile.

Minhyun's hands slip into the silk shirt Jonghyun is wearing, **HIS** silk shirt, to brush against Jonghyun's nipples. Jonghyun's reaction is instantaneous.

"M-Minhyun." Jonghyun gasps and holds onto him tighter.

A slight touch here, a button undone there, and the shirt slides like water, falling to the floor in a whisper of silk, to reveal Jonghyun's naked form. He is sleek and golden, flushed a dusky rose from the heat of the moment. Perfect.

Minhyun's own clothes quickly joins Jonghyun's and for a minute Minhyun just stands there, looking at Jonghyun as moonlight bathes both of them. "You're perfect." He says quietly, meaning it with his whole heart.

Jonghyun blushes and he turned away for a moment before peeking up shyly at Minhyun. "So are you."

Minhyun put his hands on Jonghyun's waist and lifts Jonghyun up, laying Jonghyun down on the bed as his mouth travels over Jonghyun's body. Light touches of liquid fire followed by soft kisses on calves and ankles, slowly, slowly moving up, inch by slow loving inch over trembling legs, shifting back to the smooth chest to lick and nip at sensitive nipples.

Jonghyun's fingers thread through Minhyun's hair and his name is like a prayer on Jonghyun's lips. A prayer he kisses silent as he returned once more to honey sweet lips, delving in like a drowning man needing air, finding it in the warm spaces of Jonghyun's mouth.

Even as their tongues dance, Minhyun's hands stroke Jonghyun's nipples, skimming over the overheated skin of Jonghyun's belly and lower…

Jonghyun gasps into his mouth and his hands clutch at Minhyun's shoulders as Minhyun strokes him over and over again. Touching Jonghyun is everything. Watching what his touch does to Jonghyun is more than everything.

They speak in half-finished phrases, desire and passion stealing their words.

"Please…"  
"Jonghyun, let me…"

When he's done everything he can to make the experience easy for Jonghyun, Minhyun shifts, poised to touch something finer than Heaven, slowly sinking into Jonghyun.

Jonghyun gasps and stiffens. Tears leaking out of eyes tightly clenched shut.

"Jonghyun, are you ok?" Minhyun freezes at Jonghyun's reaction. He looks at Jonghyun, tracing the path Jonghyun's tears took with his lips before whispering in his ear. "You couldn't have fallen very far."

Jonghyun says nothing but he grips Minhyun's shoulders as he slowly opens his eyes.

In that instant, Minhyun sees his future and his heart. "Easy, love." He slides a hand between them and lights Jonghyun's passion again. A gift for what he he's given Minhyun. Soon he has Jonghyun's body crying tears too.

"Hold on to me, tightly," he whispers in a tight voice, then buries his tongue into Jonghyun's mouth.

Jonghyun answers by gripping his arms and lifting his hips, instinctively seeking the caresses that would send him over the edge that he craves, feeling like he is on the edge of the precipice, waiting to fall. Minhyun gives him those touches and more, knowing the exact instance when Jonghyun goes over the edge of oblivion.

Then he thrusts home. Jonghyun groans and twists and Minhyun stills, afraid it would give Jonghyun more pain. "Jonghyun…Jonghyun look at me."

Jonghyun slowly opens his eyes.  
"Are you okay?"  
Jonghyun nods, reaching up and running fingers over Minhyun's mouth, his heart in his eyes.

"Tell me if I hurt you." Minhyun moves slowly, very slowly, watching Jonghyun until brown eyes drifted close and Jonghyun is meeting each of his thrusts and moving with him, creating an intimate rhythm of their own.

It seems to go on forever, an eternity within this person who shows him more than words ever can, what love and life is about. He feels release coming hard and fast, from his mind to his heart, to the other parts that are rawer, more elemental.

He strives for his legendary control, wanting to take Jonghyun with him, needing their first time to be them, together, completely them and nothing else.

When he feels the rise in Jonghyun, a change in urgency that signals that Jonghyun Is near, Minhyun shifts and moves faster, feeling Jonghyun match his pace as they reach for something just out of reach, something so primal and only moments away.

When it comes, it is mind-breakingly scintillating, incredible. It is everything.

Minhyun clings to the slender man in his arms for a moment, basking in the aftermath for as long as he can. And when the physical passion drains away, he finds that what he feels for Jonghyun…is still there.

He tenderly cups Jonghyun's head in his hand and tells Jonghyun what he now knows has been there since the first time he saw Jonghyun: "You're my heart, Jonghyun. I love you.” He kisses him sweetly. “How I love you."

Jonghyun's face also crumples with emotion. He shakes his head, his breath a cry and a whisper. Something Minhyun doesn't hear as sleep claims him.

"Oh no…please."

But it is too late.

Hwang Minhyun gave Jonghyun the miracle he had wanted by giving Jonghyun his heart.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Jonghyun stands by the bed and watches Minhyun sleep, shivering. The flames in the fireplace are guttered but the chill he feels has nothing to do with the air and has everything to do with his life.

His life in Heaven had been everything wrong. Here, on Earth, everything was right. Even his miracles.

It's bitterly funny, cruel and ironic that the one thing he cannot do in Heaven, as hard as he had tried, he's able to do here on Earth. A miracle. Minhyun's miracle.

He wonders if he'll be forced to go back to heaven now. Would the Father be so cruel? With all of his earthly being Jonghyun hopes not. He smiles sadly. How strange it feels…two weeks before this, he was in despair at having fallen, he would have done everything to go back to Heaven. Now…now, he is wishing with all he is, that he won't have to.

All because of one man. 

"Minhyun…" Jonghyun whispers as he lays a hand on the sleeping man's cheek. In sleep, Minhyun lookes free of worries, younger than he looks awake, all of his shields relaxed in slumber.

 _/If I go…/_ A brief glimpse of how agonising eternity would be now that it no longer meant anything to Jonghyun flashes through his mind. 

Because Minhyun loves him.

And what about Minhyun? Jonghyun's eyes widen as he covers his mouth with one hand, trying to catch a shuddering breath that can't be caught. It isn't hard to imagine Minhyun's pain should he find Jonghyun gone…this man who lost every person he had ever cared for.

 _/I do not want to go! Please, Father, let me stay!/_ For Minhyun's sake and for his own, Jonghyun prays. Again and again until he finally falls to his knees. His hands are folded tightly as he stares at them, his clasped hands feeling like his only lifeline to this earthly life. If he holds on tight enough, maybe it would help make sure that his prayers will be heard.

Prayers and folded hands are nothing in the face of Heaven's will. Jonghyun can feel it in his soul, a niggling pull to be somewhere else, he feels his edges fraying slowly. He catches hold of one of Minhyun's hands in desperation, the beautiful, sleeping man stirring a little as Jonghyun tightens his hold on him.

“I want to stay.” Jonghyun whispers urgently. "Please…"

He tried to hold onto Minhyun as long as he can, laying his cheek into the palm as he sobs silently.

Somewhere in the distance a church bell rings. And a second later, Jonghyun disappears, leaving Minhyun's upturned hand holding air.


	8. Hush now, my angel (I will always be with you)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe all you needed to do was whistle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we've come to the end of our tale. After all the death threats I've received (none really), I suddenly wonder if people think I kill off either Jonghyun or Minhyun that much :P Because I don't. I think. Maybe. lol.
> 
> Thank you for joining this journey and staying. I hope to see you all again soon. Wherein I try not to kill off 2hyun. <3
> 
> P.S. Grace still owes me a chapter and so does Minjonghyunlove :P

Somewhere in the distance a church bell rang and wakes him up. He reaches out to his side, hands ready to clasp at a warm hand only to touch cool sheets…the bed is empty.

He assumes that Jonghyun is in the bathroom though he can't hear any sounds to indicate it. He wants to join Jonghyun but thought that he might want some privacy after what's happened. He waits for Jonghyun instead, locking hands behind his head and staring up at the canopy with contentment.

Minhyun's never thought of marriage for himself other than the fact that he needs an heir to leave his fortune to. But as he lies here with his musings, knowing how much he wants Jonghyun with him for a lifetime he quickly throws any idea of marrying out of his mind. No woman can compare to Jonghyun and the contentment he feels when he is with Jonghyun.

He smiles and closes his eyes as he waits for Jonghyun to come back to bed.

Hours later, Minhyun realises he fell asleep again. He doesn't know how long he's slept but Jonghyun is nowhere around. A gnawing, fearful feeling settles over him.

Minhyun throws back the covers and stands up, scanning the room for any signs. The dressing room is empty and the bathroom door is open, the room dark. His stomach turns over in fear as he hurries inside the bathroom, stepping around baskets of sleeping puppies, kittens and rabbits. 

Jonghyun isn't there.

"Jonghyun?" Minhyun calls out, rushing back into the bedroom. Silence, like a cold invisible mist, settles heavily down on him, broken only for seconds by a sleepy meow and puppy whimpers.

Unable to stop the growing dread in his heart he shouts, "Jonghyun!", putting on his clothes as he does so. With frenzied panic, he burst out of the gold bedroom and runs down the hall, only stopping when he is at the top of the stairs. "Jonghyun!" he yells once again, Jonghyun's name echoing through the gallery like a mocking counterpoint to his shout.

Minhyun looks in every corner of his house on hell- sped feet, looking, searching, hoping…all the time unconsciously murmuring one name.

Jonghyun.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Dongho and the others find Minhyun in the most dishevelled state they've ever seen him. Minhyun doesn't even offer them a greeting, speaking on the phone all the while.

“No, it hasn't been 24 hours. Yes, I know you told me this before but this is an urgent ma---No, don't hang up, I'm trying to....FUCK.” He throws the phone across the room, narrowly missing the innocent Aron who just enters the room at the right moment.

“Minhyun-ah, what's wrong?” Minki asks quietly, picking up the innocent phone from the floor.

Minhyun doesn't answer Minki immediately, his eyes landing on Dongho, “Dongho, use the company resources and put out a reward for any information on Jonghyun.” 

Ah. The three suddenly understands the situation and nods as one.

In the following days, they widen their search to the whole city, exhausting their energies and using the daunting resources of Nu'Est Enterprises to bear. In the whole miasma of teeming humanity in Seoul, not a sliver of information remains of the young man they had known as Jonghyun. It's as if the man has never existed.

"Now, how to tell Minhyun?" Dongho almost mumbles to himself, as he looks for help from the other two. They're all tired and running on empty but knowing Minhyun's need, they've pushed past normal endurance to help. 

“It might just destroy him, poor thing.” Minki says wearily, rubbing his tired eyes and sighing.

“Just tell him, Dongho. He's going to have to know sooner or later. If we can't find Jonghyun with the superhuman effort we've brought to bear, I don't think there's a chance in hell we'll see him again.” Aron's words are slurred from tiredness. 

Dongho wishes he isn't the one to give the news but he drags his leaden feet to the library where Minhyun's locked himself in since this ordeal's begun. He opens the door quietly, his mouth tightening a bit at finding his friend slumped in dejection over his laptop, his clothes are rumpled beyond recognition, dark eyes under his eyes.

“Jonghyun isn't anywhere in Seoul.” Dongho says heavily. “I'm sorry, Minhyun, we've done everything we can.”

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Dongho's news feels like a sword thrust through Minhyun's chest, but one he's been expecting. Even before they'd began the search, he knew that Jonghyun would not have answered him. In his heart, he knew…because the remarkable feeling inside him, the one that's been there since he's met Jonghyun, is gone.

As quickly as if God snapped His fingers, it's gone.

He stares at his hands, white knuckled as they grip the edges of his table. A heavy sigh escapes him and he sags down onto his chair, not moving for a long long time. He doesn't even notice Dongho quietly leaving him to his thoughts.

Everything that he is, every laugh, every smile, every happiness he has ever experienced seem to drain away until he feels as if he is hollow inside, empty…bereft.

He rests his head into his hands and takes a couple of deep breaths.

"Jonghyun…"

He says Jonghyun's name one last time. It is barely a whisper.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"For the last time Ahn, forget about the release!" Minhyun cuts through the middle of his associate's prattle with a cold glare. "I have other things to see to, least of all that. Get it into your head. I. Do. Not. Care. Fuck the release!" He storms out, finally breaking the icy cold façade he has been maintaining since that night, the anger and desperation seeping out in his voice.

This burst of emotion makes the members of Nu'Est Enterprises release a breath of relief simultaneously. They were of like mind that bottling it up would only make the Nu'Est Enterprises leader more brittle than he already is.

Although who can blame him. Time is going by. A week has already gone since Jonghyun's disappearance.

Minhyun can't find Jonghyun. No one can find him not even Nu'Est Enterprises. There is no trace of him anywhere, anywhere that money, power and influence can look for. No one's even seen Jonghyun leave. It really seemed like he had never existed…

"You know what, I actually really fervently hope that he comes back and sues the hell out of me." Minhyun continues as he turns his back on Ahn, to stare out the window. "At least then I'd know where he is."

Ahn rises from his chair, picking up the briefcase he brought with him and snaps it close. He stands there for an awkward moment, staring at the man he had thought as a cold bastard, in an agony of uncertainty. He felt pity. "I'm sorry, Hwang."

Minhyun doesn't respond and minutes later the door clicks close. A dull roar of an engine heralds Ahn's leaving as Minhyun sees Ahn's limo pull away from his driveway.

Minhyun just sits there staring at the falling snow ass he relives memories of Jonghyun standing under a tree with a pile of snow on him, so much snow that he looks like a snowman…Jonghyun's face looking up at him, velvet brown eyes sparkling, the crinkle in his nose as he scrunches it up whenever Jonghyun fails to understand something.

He remembers the mistletoe Minki had strategically placed. A sweet kiss. Christmas greens. The cornhusk angel atop a tree. And another angel, the only angel he has ever known.

He stands up suddenly, startling the three who looks at him simultaneously from their different locations in the room. He ignores them as he makes his way to the hall and up the stairs. When he reaches Jonghyun's bedroom, his hand pauses on the door knob. He knows the room is empty but some illogical hope still kindles inside his chest. If he opens the door at the right time, maybe, just maybe Jonghyun would be there…

He opens the door.

And the hope dies in his chest.

He steps into the room, locking the door behind him.

Puppies, kittens and rabbits greet him but he ignores them, his gaze fixated on the bed, to the piece of cloth that still lies, seemingly forgotten, on the sheets…right where Jonghyun has lain so many days ago…Days before, when his world seemed to be perfect. When he thought that everything would finally be different from his life before…when he thought that love would finally be his.

Now there is just his silk shirt, nothing more. He reaches out and touches it hesitantly, scared that it woulddisappear too, the way Jonghyun did.

It doesn't disappear. He picks it up, the silk smooth and cool to his touch, as he sits down on the bed. He stares at the shirt. Jonghyun's scent is still faintly there, the scent of sunshine on a warm summer's day, telling Minhyun that everything had been real. That the shirt is real and here.

But Jonghyun isn't.

A puppy jumps into his lap, then another and another. One of them is chewing on something and he gently takes it from its mouth. It's the angel wing earring. Jonghyun's earring. His hand closes tightly on it as if by doing so he can bring Jonghyun home to him.

_/Fly home to me, my angel./_

The kittens crawl up the chair and the rabbits chew on his shoelaces. He looks at them and then at the earring, then at the silk shirt he clutches in his hands.

A moment later he buries his face in the shirt and amazingly, for the first time in a very long while, Hwang Minhyun allows himself to cry.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Jonghyun's watching him. Constantly he watches him."

Saint Peter stops pacing and looks at Youngmin. "Has he stopped crying?"

Hyungbin answers for Youngmin, anxious and worried. "No, sir." His voice is tight with tension and his glance ever did stray to the angel who is kneeling at a cloud's edge looking down on the world below them.

"Been like that since he came here." Sungwoon chimes in mournfully. His intuition had been correct. Their friend went and fell in love with the human. Sungwoon isn't happy to be right.

St. Peter sighs then moves across the clouds with the three angels floating in his wake, whispering to themselves.

"I wish Jonghyun hyung didn't have to fall in love. He's SO miserable right now, it breaks my heart just to see him like this." Hyunbin cries out to both of his hyungs, muttering darkly about it being Minhyun's fault.

Sungwoon swats Hyunbin's arm and rolls his eyes. "Like it's his fault in the first place?"

"But it's his fault!"

"Hyunbin-ah, you can't make anybody fall in love with anyone else by force- He's as miserable as Jonghyun is. Can't you see?" Youngmin chides the young angel.

St. Peter only listens with half an ear as he continues walking. He finally reaches where Jonghyun is kneeling, clutching at the rim of a cloud with white knuckled hands and peering intently over the edge. So intently that Jonghyun doesn't even notice the Guardian of the Gates' presence.

St. Peter, though, notices everything about the angel. He notices how Jonghyun's halo has no glow and how Jonghyun's wings seem to droop downwards like a flower whose petals are badly bruised. He clears his throat.

Jonghyun raises his head and looks up at St. Peter with swollen eyes, the tears he couldn't stop a mute testimony of his pain. "He's at the park, calling my name." He tells the venerable angel.

St. Peter looks down at the mortal world and agrees with Jonghyun quietly. "So I see."

Jonghyun bites his lip and watches Minhyun whose head is bent down in defeat. Minhyun's hands are shoved in his coat pockets and snow is falling all around him as he walks with leaden steps from the park. "He's alone and lost. Can't I help him? Can't you or someone else help him? He's lost everyone."

"Some people have a harder road to travel, Jonghyun."

Jonghyun looks up at St. Peter. "I never really knew what heaven was until I found Minhyun."

A smothered sniffle issues from behind and St. Peter looked at Hyunbin who is unable to hold back the tears himself. Youngmin puts an arm around the young angel and pats him comfortingly.

St. Peter felt the pressure of a weighted gaze on him so he turns to meet Sungwoon's gruff eyes.

_/Give him a chance to find love for himself. Please ask Our Father in our behalf. We will bear what burden would result. Just let him go back to the human. Please./_

St. Peter shakes his head at Sungwoon. /It is not our place to question the wisdom of Our Father, Sungwoon. But do not worry, Our father in His infinite wisdom always has a plan. Now go and take the others with you. I will deal with Jonghyun./

Sungwoon bows and quietly ushers the two away. When the others are gone, St. Peter turns back to Jonghyun to find Jonghyun's shoulders shaking. The poor angel is now hiccuping as he looks downward. "He's at the church now, praying. Hear him?" Jonghyun pauses. "I can hear him."

Saint Peter sits down on the rim of the cloud as he looks down on the world below. He turns his gaze to one man in particular-a dark and empty shape of a man.

St. Peter is quiet, looking at Jonghyun for the longest time. After an eternal minute, he clears his throat and says in a gruff voice, "So, Jonghyun. Tell me about your young man."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Minhyun searches everywhere. Over sideways and under, every person who has ever talked to Jonghyun in Seoul, every place he has gone to, not a stone was left unturned. And when Seoul couldn't give the answer, Minhyun turns his formidable will, wealth and influence towards otherprovinces, other countries…there is no place where Nu'Est Enterprises couldn't get into.

Jonghyun did not leave any visible evidence he's ever lived except for those whose hearts he had touched.

Every day Minhyun would sit down on the bench on the park, wanting to see Jonghyun running in the snow, his hat flying behind him, wishing to hear the laughter. All he finds is the world moving on without him.

He feels like time has rewinded to how he has been before, like a stranger looking into a world where he does not fit in, unwanted, lost…not even the presence of Dongho, Aron and Minki, which has always been a small balm to his loneliness before, soothes the ache inside.

He scours the European Christmas Market, rings every bell he can find, asks children if they've seen Jonghyun. Jonghyun seems as elusive as the mythological Santa Claus. He goes into churches, every church and he prays, rustily at first because he hasn't done it for so long, but the prayers are never answered.

By midnight on Christmas Eve he's walked all the way to the opera house not caring about the cold or the snow. There is a performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio scheduled.

He wanders through the crowds until everyone has gone inside. Along the way, he digs into his pockets and drops coins and bills into every dented and rusty tin can.

The snow begins to fall harder and faster. He stuffs a hundred dollar bill into an old dented tin can sitting by a crippled old man dressed in too-thin clothes, shivering. Minhyun pauses and says: "The storm is going to hit sometime soon. Do you have anywhere to go?"

"I have a small apartment I share with others a few hours away from the city." The old man tries to get up, reaching for his crutches but his hands give way, too cold from the elements to move easily. He doesn't have any gloves.  
Minhyun helps him up then bends down to give the man the tin can. He turns and hails a cab with a sharp gesture. Once the cab stops, he opens the door and talks to the driver, beckoning to the old man to get in.

"I've paid the driver to take you home," He tells the man as he helps him inside. He stares for a moment, looking into creased eyes that shows every hard year he's lived. Without a thought, Minhyun pulls off his expensive leather gloves and places them into the man's hands, closing the bent, stiff aged fingers around them. "Merry Christmas," he says as he closes the door.

For the longest time he just stands near the curb watching the taxi disappear down the snowy street. Then he turns and sticks his freezing hands into his coat pockets, walking towards home. His mind returns to the ache of loss and emptiness.

He passes a Salvation Army bell ringer near the corner and automatically reaches into his pants pocket. He finds nothing. Realisation hits that he used up the last of his money for the cab.

Minhyun sighs and starts to walk away. At the last minute, he stops and takes off his gold Rolex. He looks at it for a moment as the diamonds sparkle at him, reminding him of a similar sparkle in someone's eyes.

Time doesn't matter to him anymore. Without Jonghyun, nothing seems to matter. He tosses the watch into the collection bucket, walking away. He realised with a sudden sense of panic that the man has stopped ringing the bell.

"Don't stop ringing that bell. Please. Keep ringing, because…" His voice drops into a tight whisper and he stares in a place that was faraway from the present. "Every time a bell rings…"

"An angel gets its wings." The bell ringer finishes for him in a voice that is achingly familiar.

"Jonghyun?" His head shoot up in disbelief. He spins around then, reaching out and pushing back the cap that had obscured the bell ringer's features. He finds soft brown eyes dancing with lights. "Jonghyun!"

"Minhyun."

And Jonghyun is in his arms.

"God, Jonghyun. It's really you!" He holds Jonghyun so tightly that Jonghyun finds it hard to breath but Minhyun doesn't want to let go…the fear that Jonghyun might disappear again foremost in his mind.

"Let go a little, Minhyun-ah!" Jonghyun laughs breathlessly.

"No."

"I'm here now. I'm here." Jonghyun tells him comfortingly, his voice tinged with some tears, "I'll never leave you again. It's for a lifetime."

Only then does Minhyun let go enough to let the other man breath. "I thought I lost you." He holds Jonghyun's face so tenderly in his hands, like Jonghyun is made of fragile glass. "I've searched everywhere, every place we've been…"  
“I know.” Jonghyun says simply, hugging Minhyun almost as tightly as Minhyun is hugging him, burying his face at Minhyun's neck. "I've missed you, Minhyun."

Minhyun's hands cups Jonghyun's face, wanting to drink in Jonghyun's features, his piercing eyes staring at the smaller male as if he intends to memorise every line on Jonghyun's face. "Nothing matters without you. I have given away more money than I have ever had before…and I will keep on doing it again if you will always stay by me. You are everything."

A tear slides down Jonghyun's cheek and Minhyun's arms goes around Jonghyun again. He holds Jonghyun so damn tightly as he whispers in Jonghyun's ear, "My angel."

Jonghyun disengages himself from Minhyun and puts fingers to his lips, tracing the contours. "Minhyun?" He says wonderingly. "Your angel?"

"My fallen angel. You've come home to me."

Jonghyun smiles up at him then fixes an odd look up at the Heavens. Jonghyun winks, eyes dancing a little merrily, before he looks back at Minhyun, a smile on his face only for the bespectacled man who looks at him with such love in his eyes. He leans back into Minhyun's arms. "Maybe, just maybe Minhyun-ah…all you had to do was whistle."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Somewhere near Jonghyun three angels look on the happiness of the couple...

"I just love happy endings." Youngmin says in satisfaction.  
"Finally. I swear I probably have white hair from all the worrying we've done over that Jonghyun the miniature disaster." Sungwoon says gruffly, unable to stop himself from grinning a satisfied grin. "I'm glad St. Peter and the Heavenly Father relented."

"Hmph. If that bastard makes Jonghyun hyung cry even once, I'm going to send him nightmares."

Sungwoon and Youngmin snickers. “Hyunbin-ah, let go of your hyung already. He's happy.”

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sometimes, when there are raised voices in the Nu'Est Enterprises household, particularly when Jonghyun is near tears, a cold wind would blow into the hall and Minhyun would have a rough night sleeping.

On these times he would feel the heat of a glare on the back of his head and a forbidding air entering the room. These are the times he knows he has to apologise and coddle his Jonghyun or he would never get a good night's sleep for days.

Strange occurrences happen in the Hwang household but whatever else is said, it is generally accepted (mainly because of Jonghyun's proddings and insistence) that angels are the root of it all. The members of Nu'Est Enterprises, jaded and world-wise, disagree of course but they did so privately or risk the wrath of Minhyun's glaring eyes.

Finally all is right with the world.

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off one of my old fics and seriously, it's meant to be a little cringe-y because I was going for the old romantic paperback cheesiness (a.k.a. Please don't judge me as I roll around in embarrassment while writing this.). That fic was based off of a romantic novel as well. I just can't remember for the life of me what the title is now oTL I'm dedicating this to Zoe because of some twitter prompt that this doesn't totally fit. Ahahaha. oTL
> 
> If you're in twitter and you want to be friends, please find me at [OnibugiFan](https://twitter.com/OnibugiFan).


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